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| The KSLV-II ― also known as Nuri ― blasts off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, Oct. 21. Yonhap |
South Korea launched its first homegrown space launch vehicle Thursday in the latest attempt to foster its space program and join the elite global space club.
The KSLV-II ― also known as Nuri ― blasted off from the Naro Space Center in the country's southern coastal village of Goheung at 5 p.m., one hour behind schedule, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.
Yong Hong-taek, the first vice minister at the Ministry of Science and ICT, told a press briefing that engineers spent "additional time checking valves inside the launch vehicle."
The 200-ton Nuri is intended to put a 1.5-ton dummy satellite into orbit, a space launch vehicle technology that South Korea has been seeking to acquire for more than a decade for its space program.
If successful, the Nuri rocket will be South Korea's first space vehicle wholly designed and built in the country.
The launch came amid tensions over North Korea's test-firing of a new submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on Tuesday, the latest in a series of missile launches by the North.
On Thursday, North Korea's foreign ministry expressed concerns over "nonsensical" reaction from the United States and the U.N. Security Council over Pyongyang's "rightful exercise of right to defense."
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency closed-door meeting on the North's SLBM test on Wednesday (New York time).
The U.S. State Department has condemned the North Korean missile launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit any nuclear or ballistic missile tests by the North.
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Officials at KARI said Nuri's success or failure can be determined in around 30 minutes after liftoff.
The success rate for newly developed rockets at first attempt is 30 percent to date, they added. South Korea's rocket launches ended in failures in 2009 and 2010.
In 2013, South Korea successfully launched its first-ever Naro space rocket but its first stage was built in Russia.
South Korea has invested nearly 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in building the three-stage Nuri since 2010.
The three-stage Nuri rocket uses a clustering of four 75-ton liquid engines in its first stage, a 75-ton liquid engine in the second stage and a 7-ton liquid engine in the third stage.
A successful launch would make South Korea the seventh country in the world to have developed a space launch vehicle that can carry a more than 1-ton satellite, after Russia, the United States, France, China, Japan and India.
It would also mean South Korea will now have secured the key technology for developing and launching space rockets carrying homegrown satellites, opening up a new era in the country's space program.
South Korea, a relative latecomer to the global space development race, has recently ramped up efforts in its space program, with plans to launch its first lunar orbiter next year.
The development of homegrown space rocket is crucial as the transfer of missile technology among countries is strictly controlled under international guidelines such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, which South Korea joined in 2001.
South Korea's rocket development program had previously been limited by bilateral missile guidelines from the United States, originally put in place in 1979.
The two allies, however, agreed to scrap the restrictions during a summit in May, ensuring full autonomy in South Korea's efforts to develop space launch vehicles.
South Korea plans to conduct four more launches of the Nuri until 2027 to increase reliability, KARI said. (Yonhap)
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