Fairing assembly cited for 'half successful' space rocket launch: ministry

SEOUL, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- An independent private panel on Monday cited problems
in the fairing assembly of South Korea's first space rocket as being behind the
rocket's "half successful" launch last year.
The seven-person panel, headed by Lee In, an aerospace engineering professor at
the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said its investigations
indicated that faulty electrical wiring or structural problems in the pairing
assembly's separation explosive mechanism were the likely causes of the two-stage
rocket failing to place a small satellite into orbit on Aug. 25.
The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) blasted off successfully from the Naro
Space Center 485 kilometers south of Seoul, but one of two fairings failed to
detach during the ascent stage. The added weight of the fairing made it
impossible for the rocket to reach proper velocity to place the satellite in
orbit.
The KSLV-1 or Naro-1 is South Korea's first locally assembled and launched space
rocket. It was built with support from Russia's Khrunichev State Research and
Production Space Center.
A second KSLV-1 is scheduled to be launched from the Naro Space Center 485
kilometers south of Seoul in the first half of this year.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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