"Pony Making Genesis Demand"... Controversy Over Suspension of Nuriho Performance Upgrade (Comprehensive)

Government Removes Preliminary Feasibility Study Results from Next Year's R&D Budget Proposal
Concerns Over Delays in 2030 Independent Launch Vehicle Moon Lander Launch Schedule

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] It has been confirmed that the government excluded the performance improvement project of the first Korean-type space launch vehicle, ‘Nuriho,’ from next year’s research and development (R&D) budget plan.

According to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 29th, the next year’s R&D budget plan (about 23.5 trillion KRW), finalized at the National Science and Technology Advisory Council meeting on the 24th, had the entire budget for the Nuriho performance development project cut. However, only the initial budget of 86.4 billion KRW for repeated launches was reflected. This is because the approximately 2.02 trillion KRW Nuriho-related budget plan set by the Ministry of Science and ICT recently failed to pass its own preliminary feasibility study. The approximately 1.5 trillion KRW R&D budget for performance improvement was notified for ‘reconsideration,’ and only the budget for four additional launches (about 600 billion KRW) was included.

If the performance improvement project is delayed like this, it could disrupt President Moon Jae-in’s pledge made last March to launch a lunar lander using a domestically produced launch vehicle by 2030. The Nuriho, scheduled for its final launch this October, was made with domestic technology but has weak thrust, capable of sending a 1.5-ton payload to low Earth orbit (560?600 km) at best. When sending to the moon, the payload weight is only about 78 kg.

To send a lunar lander weighing several hundred kilograms over 300,000 km to the moon, improvement work is inevitable. KARI and others had planned upgrades such as developing solid fuel boosters and improving engines to increase the altitude to over 700 km and raise the payload capacity to more than 2.8 tons. Recently, following the South Korea?U.S. summit, the range restrictions on solid fuel missiles were lifted, creating institutional conditions for this.

A Ministry of Science and ICT official said, “There was a need to review the performance improvement part of the project goals once again,” adding, “Since Nuriho is scheduled to launch in October, some opinions suggested deciding after seeing the results, while others said that to catch up with the high technological level overseas, another leap is necessary.”

Voices of criticism are growing in the research field. An official from a research institute said, “The improvement project is clearly included in the basic plan for Nuriho, and R&D is essential to possess and operate the launch vehicle, requiring at least five years. Considering the domestic conditions such as the technology level of industries, realistically feasible improvement projects should be pursued. We have now reached the level to make a Pony, so asking us to produce a Genesis is unreasonable.”

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