S. Korea ready to launch 1st space rocket

(ATTN: UPDATES with more information in paras 3, 8-10, 15-16)
By Lee Joon-seung
NARO SPACE CENTER, South Korea, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea was preparing
Tuesday morning to send its first rocket into space and become the 10th country
in the world to send a homegrown satellite into orbit from its own soil.
The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) was scheduled to blast off from the
Naro Space Center on the southern coast at around 5:00 p.m. (Seoul Time)
following a series of delays, including a technical glitch that halted
Wednesday's countdown with less than eight minutes remaining before blastoff.
The rocket, also called the Naro-1, was developed with help from Russia and
originally slated to be launched in late 2005. The launch was pushed back to
October 2007 and again to 2008 due to administrative and diplomatic reasons
before being scheduled for liftoff in the second quarter of this year.
A "definitive" date was set for July 30, but this was pushed back to Aug. 11 and
again to last Wednesday.
Seoul's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said a successful liftoff
could bring the country to the cutting edge of aerospace technology, an area
currently dominated by the United States, Russia and the European Union. It added
that by showing the world that South Korea can launch a powerful rocket, Seoul
can expand cooperation with other countries in the future.
"In the past, there was almost no country willing to work with South Korea
because we did not have first-hand experience in the field of space exploration
and had nothing to offer in terms of technology sharing," an official said.
The ministry, which is in charge of the country's science and technology
policies, said a full launch "rehearsal" conducted Monday showed the rocket was
ready for liftoff. Seoul has notified both the International Civil Aviation
Organization and the International Maritime Organization of the launch so ships
and airplanes can stay clear of the rocket's trajectory.
Weather conditions were favorable for launch, with a slight breeze and little
chance of lightning.
"As of 10:10 a.m. engineers have checked the fuel tanks and oxidation agents and
are injecting helium gas into the rocket that will control various valves," a
government official said. He said a press conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. to
announce the exact time of the launch.
South Korea spent 502.5 billion won (US$402.3 million) on the 140-ton Naro-1,
which stands 33m tall and has a diameter of 2.9m. Its main first stage
liquid-fuel rocket, made in Russia, can generate 170t of thrust. The second stage
rocket, made domestically, is able to generate 8t of thrust and is designed to
push the satellite -- which will gather basic information on the Earth's
atmosphere -- into orbit.
Experts at the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said that
while the first stage of the Naro-1 was made in Russia, South Korea has gained
valuable know-how.
Park Jeong-joo, head of KARI's KSLV Systems Office, said cooperating with Russia
helped reduce the amount of trial-and-error that usually comes with making a
rocket, and pointed out that South Korea built the second stage, solid fuel
rocket that houses the satellite.
"Even the last minute delay (which we) experienced last week was a meaningful
learning experience since it showed the need to be ready for all contingencies,"
he said.
KARI plans to launch a second Naro-1 rocket in 2010, carrying another scientific
satellite.
If Tuesday's rocket fails after takeoff, the aerospace institute said another
could be built for a second attempt.
Related to the launch, the government said in last week's national science and
technology committee meeting it will concentrate more funds to develop a first
stage rocket by 2018 -- perhaps with the capacity to send a 1.5t payload into
space.
In the long run, South Korea aims to build an unmanned space probe by 2025 that
can reach the moon.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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