The US Achieves Its 5th Mars Landing... South Korea's Space Development Still in 'Early Stages'

First Independent Satellite Rocket Launch Scheduled for October
Multiple Satellites Developed and Lunar Orbiter Launch Planned as Well

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] South Korea's space exploration and development are still in the early stages. Unlike major advanced countries such as the United States, which has launched its fifth Mars exploration rover, South Korea remains at a beginner level in key areas such as space launch vehicles, satellite development, and planetary exploration. Until the 1990s, South Korea could hardly imagine space development, but in 1992, it successfully placed the Our Star 1 satellite into orbit and in January 2013, it successfully launched the Naro-1 (KSLV-I), which borrowed Russian technology.

However, above all, South Korea has yet to successfully develop a launch vehicle capable of independently carrying people and cargo into space, which is the most essential technology for space development. Since Naro-1, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has been independently developing Nuri (KSLV-II), a three-stage rocket launch vehicle that uses clustered 75-ton class medium engines to launch low Earth orbit satellites. Originally scheduled for completion and launch this month, it has been postponed to October due to difficulties in developing the first-stage rocket, the most critical technology. KARI succeeded in the first test launch of the first-stage rocket in November 2018 and plans to conduct the second integrated combustion test of the propulsion system at the Naro Space Center in Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do, on the 25th.

The government plans to first succeed with Nuri to secure the capability to launch 1.5-ton class low Earth orbit satellites and later develop the capability to launch 3-ton class geostationary satellites. Since 2010, the government has invested 1.9572 trillion won in this project through next year. Nuri is a three-stage liquid rocket with a payload capacity of 1,500 kg and a length of 47.2 meters, consisting of four 75-ton class liquid engines in the first stage, one 75-ton class engine in the second stage, and one 7-ton class engine in the third stage.

The satellite development project, which began in earnest after Our Star 1, is progressing relatively smoothly. This year, the government will actively promote projects to develop and utilize various advanced satellites. The first next-generation medium satellite, which can be used to meet various public demands and foster industries such as ground observation, urban planning, and map production, will be launched in March from Kazakhstan using a Russian Soyuz launch vehicle. Currently, the first, second, and fourth next-generation medium satellites are under development, and the third and fifth satellites will begin development this year and next year, respectively. Development of Cheollian 3, which serves as a testbed for disaster and safety response such as flood and drought monitoring and satellite communication technology, will also begin in earnest.

The multipurpose practical satellites 6 and 7, developed to provide various public services such as national security through all-weather ground observation, are entering final assembly and functional testing with a launch target set for 2022. Full-scale military satellite development is also underway, including micro-satellite swarm systems, second-stage military satellite communication systems, reconnaissance satellites for strategic target surveillance, and securing micro-satellite systems.

Korea's own space exploration is also beginning. The Korean lunar orbiter, using a Korean launch vehicle, is being developed with a launch target of 2022. This year, payloads that will perform various missions such as lunar surface imaging will be assembled with the orbiter, and the total assembly test of the lunar orbiter system will be conducted. To observe the space environment and use it as basic research for understanding space weather and responding to space disasters, four 10 kg class nano satellites will be launched in the second half of this year through a Russian Soyuz launch vehicle, led by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.

Alongside this, the construction of the Korean Positioning System (KPS), which will replace the regional navigation system currently fully dependent on the U.S. GPS, will also be accelerated. It will provide essential location, navigation, and timing information for the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as autonomous vehicles and drones, as well as for national infrastructure operations. After securing the budget in the first half of this year, development will begin next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.