Nuriho 3rd Launch D-1... Arrival at Launch Pad and Final Inspection Underway

KARI Completes Launch Vehicle Transport, Erection, and Umbilical Connection on the Morning of the 23rd

Preparations for the third launch of the Korean space launch vehicle Nuriho (KSLV-II), scheduled for the 24th, have begun in earnest. This is the first flight for actual mission execution, not a test launch. It marks a critical turning point to be recognized as a true space launch vehicle.

On the morning of the 23rd, the Nuriho third launch vehicle was transported from the launch vehicle assembly building to the second launch pad within the Naro Space Center in Naro-do, Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do. Photo by Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) moved the third Nuriho launch vehicle to the launch pad on the morning of the 23rd at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, Jeollanam-do. Starting at 7:20 a.m., the launch vehicle, which was in the assembly building, was loaded onto an unmanned special transport vehicle and moved for about an hour, successfully arriving at the second launch pad around 8:54 a.m. Afterward, the vehicle was erected on the launch pad during the morning, and from the afternoon, umbilicals for power and propellant (fuel and oxidizer) charging were connected, along with airtight inspections of the fuel tanks and other components.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will hold a launch management committee meeting in the afternoon to review the situation and decide on the launch decision and timing. First, the decision on propellant charging will be made, and then, during the final inspection, the launch time will be determined by comprehensively considering technical conditions, weather status, the launch window (available time frame), and the possibility of collision with space objects. Tentatively, the launch is scheduled around 6:24 p.m.

Nuriho is South Korea’s first independently developed space launch vehicle. It has cost about 1.957 trillion won over approximately 13 years since 2009. The Naroho, launched during the Lee Myung-bak administration, was jointly developed with Russia. Nuriho is a three-stage rocket capable of placing 1.5 tons of payload into low Earth orbit (600?800 km). It is equipped with four 75-ton class liquid (kerosene) engines on the first stage, one on the second stage, and a 7-ton class liquid engine on the third stage. It measures 47.2 meters in length, weighs 200 tons, and has a maximum diameter of 3.5 meters. During the first launch in October 2021, it flew normally but failed to place the payload into orbit. The second launch in June last year succeeded by placing a performance verification satellite and a test CubeSat into orbit.

On the morning of the 23rd, the third Nuri rocket launch vehicle left the launch vehicle assembly building at Naro Space Center in Naro-do, Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do, and arrived at the second launch pad. Photo by Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

This third launch is not a test but an actual mission to place commercial satellites into orbit. The goal is to deploy the 20 billion won next-generation small satellite No. 2, developed by KAIST, along with seven public and private CubeSats into a 550 km orbit. To promote the private space industry, Hanwha Aerospace, selected as the Korean launch vehicle system integrator at the end of last year, is participating fully from this launch. Hanwha Aerospace will oversee the total of four additional launches, including this third launch. They are expected to receive technology transfer through an enhancement project worth 687.3 billion won aimed at improving the reliability of the Korean launch vehicle. The government also plans to invest a total of 2.01324 trillion won over ten years from this year until 2032 to develop a next-generation launch vehicle with better performance than Nuriho, which will be used for missions such as lunar lander launches in the 2030s.

Meanwhile, on the day of the Nuriho launch, land within a 3 km radius around the second launch pad at Naro and a sea area 24 km wide and 78 km long in the flight direction will be controlled to prevent safety accidents. For aircraft safety, an airspace 44 km wide and 95 km long will also be temporarily closed.

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