A gantry is being raised at the launch pad for the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 following an order to abort during the final countdown at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, early Wednesday evening. / Korea Times |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff reporter
GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province ― Korea's dream of putting its own satellite into orbit was halted during the final countdown, Wednesday, after engineers at the Naro Space Center gave the order to abort the launch due to unspecified technical problems possibly involving the rocket engine.
The country's space agency quickly ruled out a Thursday launch, and some experts say it might take several days, if not weeks, before the country's very first rocket actually gets off the ground.
Experts at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) stopped the countdown of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) with seven minutes and 56 seconds left after finding abnormal data during the automated sequence.
The exact nature of the problems wasn't available as of Wednesday evening, although KARI officials said that the trouble was likely related to controls in a high-pressure tank designed to regulate valves in the rocket. However, they refused to confirm where the tank was located.
KARI has now formed an investigation committee with Russia's Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Center, which is providing technology for the project.
The launch can only be rescheduled after the committee completes its investigation and gets a more detailed picture of the problems, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.
"Russian engineers have told us that a second attempt could be possible within the next few days if the problem turns out to be simple, but we have no intention of rushing it and will thoroughly analyze the situation before rescheduling the launch," Lee Sang-mok, the director of the science ministry's science and technology policy bureau, told reporters in a news conference.
Park Jeong-ju, the director of KSLV-1 rocket systems at KARI, said a second launch attempt could need more time, should the technical problems prove to be serious enough to have the vehicle removed from the launch pad.
KARI engineers conducted a technical rehearsal for eight hours Tuesday to check the rocket's machinery, electronic systems and the launch equipment. However, the process didn't involve injecting fuel and an entire countdown.
"Pressure problems from valves cannot be detected from the rehearsal, since we don't inject fuel," Park said.
"It would be best if we could just re-inject fuel into the rocket while it is upright on the launch pad. If we have to bring the rocket back to the assembly complex, then a second launch attempt will definitely take longer."
A successful launch of the KSLV-1, which was carrying a 100-kilogram space observation satellite, would have made Korea the 10th nation to place a spacecraft into orbit from its own soil. The rocket was scheduled for a 5 p.m. launch.
After the launch was suspended, Naro engineers immediately began dumping the liquid propellant and oxidizing agents and implementing safety protocols to protect the rocket and satellite, which are both in good condition, KARI officials said.
"At the earliest, a second attempt will take three days considering that we have to go through the technical rehearsal again. And that is if the investigation process is completed quickly," a KARI engineer told the Korea Times.
The two-stage KSLV-1, 33 meters long and weighing 140 tons, was to be the heaviest and most powerful rocket to blast off from Korea, generating a thrust of 170 tons.
The Khrunichev Center designed and produced the first stage of the rocket that contained the rocket engine and liquid-fuel propulsion system. KARI engineers developed the solid-fuel second stage that carries the satellite.
Under the deal with Korea, the Russians are contracted to prepare another launch at Naro around April 2010 and a third for sometime during 2011.
The country, which spent more around about $402 million to develop the KSLV-1, hopes that its experience will advanced the country's core technologies for developing launch vehicles and systems.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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