Korean News Today - Korea launches its first space rocket

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Korea launches its first space rocket

Views 40881 Votes 0 2009.08.25 21:21:11

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Category :	National

Korea's Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) rocket, or Naro, blasts off the ground on Tuesday (Aug. 25). (Photo: Yonhap News)
Korea's first space rocket Naro, or KSLV-1 (Korea's Space Launch Vehicle-1), was launched into orbit on Tuesday (Aug. 25).

About 215 seconds after lift-off, the payoff fairing separated from the rocket. Then first and second stage rockets separated from the main body as planned. Nine minutes after blastoff, the satellite was separated from the second stage rocket at over 300 kilometers from the ground.

The launch came at the eighth attempt, having been delayed several times by technical glitches. The seventh time, on Aug. 19, the launch was halted just 7 minutes and 56 seconds before blastoff due to computer software problems.

Nicknamed Naro after the nation's first spaceport in South Jeolla Province, the rocket was composed of first and second stage rockets.

For the manufacturing of the first-stage rocket, Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center provided major assistance. Rocket development cost 502 billion won (US$405 million).

The second-stage rocket, which included the Science and Technology Satellite No. 2 (STSAT-2) was developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The satellite is the joint research product of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology.

STSAT-2 was developed to investigate the earth's radiation energy and measure its own orbit. The satellite's expected survival time in space is 2 years. By creating STSAT-2, Korea has obtained core space technologies, such as high-precision altitude determination, experts here said.

The Korean government spent about 312 billion won (US$178 million) to build the nation's first spaceport, the Naro Space Center, on land stretching 5.1 million square meters in Goheung, Jeolla Province.

The spaceport is equipped with a launch pad, safety control facilities, and a high-tech mission control center. It also has radar tracking systems to follow the path of rockets and an assembly center.

Historically, only 27 percent of maiden rocket launches have proven successful, according to space experts.

As part of efforts to become a space power, Korea plans to build a rocket on its own by 2018 and a moon orbiter by 2025.

By James Ro
Korea.net Staff Writer

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