Naro Space Center to become cradle of S. Korea's space program

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- Naro Space Center aims to become the cradle of South
Korea's aspirations to build up its nascent aerospace sector, the state-run think
tank operating the facility said Monday.
Located 485km south of Seoul, the sprawling complex covering 5.07 million square
meters was built at a cost of 312.4 billion won (US$253.1 million), with
construction beginning in January 2005, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute
(KARI) said.
The center that will launch the country's first rocket on Wednesday is equipped
with a state-of-the-art mission director center, flight safety control facilities
and a launch pad. It has a meteorological observatory, radar and optical tracking
systems to follow the trajectory of all rockets launched and houses a rocket
assembly facility. Efforts are also underway to build an engine combustion test
building to check the performance and safety of rockets to be built in the
country.
The lack of an engine combustion test facility has held up full-fledged
development of locally made rockets with South Korea relying on foreign rockets
and launch facilities to send its satellites into space in the past.
From 1992, South Korea sent up 10 satellites all using foreign rockets and
overseas launch pads. If the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) can
successfully send the Science and Technology Satellite-2 into space, it will make
South Korea the 13th country to join the "space club." The club is made up of
countries that currently operate space centers and can send satellites into orbit
using indigenous rockets.
After the KSLV-1 program is completed next year with the blast off of a second
rocket and satellite payload, Naro will build a launch pad capable of sending a
larger rocket into space.
"Development of the center will be directly linked to plans to build a fully
indigenous space rocket and satellites independent of outside help," said a KARI
spokesman. He pointed out that work on a locally made 30-ton liquid-fuel rocket
is almost complete with only its actual fire test to remain. A more powerful
rocket is also being developed.
A fire test refers to a rocket being filled with fuel and oxidation agents and
ignited to mimic an actual blast off on the ground.
Seoul wants to launch an indigenous rocket called the KSLV-2 capable of carrying
a satellite into space by 2018. Such a feat could make the country one of the top
10 space rocket technology leaders in the world.
Exact specifications for the KSLV-2 have yet to be drawn although designers said
the next rocket may be 50 meters tall and have three stages with double the
thrust of the KSLV-1. The size of the payload can exceed a ton.
The KSLV-1 is capable of producing 170 tons of thrust, stands 33 meters high and
can carry a 100 kilogram satellite into low earth orbit.
For the long run, the country wants to send a probe to orbit the moon by 2020 and
to build an unmanned lander that can touch down on the lunar surface five years
later.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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