Text Fwd: Korea to Spend $1.3 Bil. on Next Rocket

Korea Times
09-29-2009 11:26
09-29-2009 21:29
Korea to Spend $1.3 Bil. on Next Rocket
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

South Korea will spend about 1.5 trillion won (about $1.3 billion) on its second generation space rocket, after the joint Russian-Korean-made first generation vehicle failed to deliver its payload satellite into orbit last month.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the country's space agency, expects to complete the development of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle II (KSLV-II) by 2017, when it is to blast off from the Naro Space Center in South Jeolla Province to send a 1.5-kilometer satellite into orbit.

The funding has been included in next year's budget, KARI officials said. The KSLV-II will be the successor of KSLV-1, which was launched at the Naro Space Center on Aug. 25.

Russia's Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Center provided technology for the Korean rocket project, and developed the first stage of the KSLV-1, including the rocket engine and liquid-fuel propulsion system.

KARI built the second-stage of the rocket that was designed to hold the satellite jointly developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST).

Although the rocket reached its desired speed and height on its Aug. 25 launch, a malfunction of the KARI-built second stage prevented the satellite from being released properly. The satellite was likely burned and destroyed in the atmosphere as it crashed back to Earth.

The government is currently investigating technical problems related to the failure and will announce the results by the end of next month. The Khrunichev Center will prepare a second launch next May, and is also contracted for a third launch should the second attempt fail.

Although the KSLV-1 project garnered rapt attention, KSLV-II will represent a truer test of the ingenuity of Korea's rocket technology. KARI is planning to rely almost entirely on new technology to make the second rocket.

"Gaining experience on liquid-fuel engines from the KSLV-1 has been critical. We are close to completing a rocket engine with 75 tons of thrust, and we expect to improve on that," said a KARI official, who said that the KSLV-II will be about "90-percent homemade" in terms of components usage.

Unlike the two-stage KSLV-I, the KSLV-II will be a three-stage rocket measuring 50 meters in height and 3 meters in diameter. The first stage of the rocket will have four liquid-fuel rocket engines, each providing around 75 to 80 tons of thrust.

Another rocket engine with similar power will be installed on the second-stage of the rocket, while the third-stage, which will carry the satellite, will have a pressure-fed rocket engine generating about 5 tons of thrust.

The KSLV-II will be used to send a 1.5-kilogram satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of somewhere between 600 to 800 kilometers.

The 1.5 trillion won government funding will be spent on designing, building and testing the rocket systems, developing advanced rocket engines, constructing rocket testing facilities and launch equipment, and conducting flight tests.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr