By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff reporter
GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province ― South Korea may have extended its failures to launch a rocket to put a satellite into orbit when the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 (KSLV-1) lost contact with ground controllers shortly after its 5:01 p.m. liftoff Thursday.
It was KSLV-1's first launch since its maiden flight in August last year, when it achieved desired speed and height, but failed to deliver its payload satellite into orbit.
According to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the country's space agency, said the communication with the rocket was disconnected 137 efforts after the blastoff, when it was believed to be 70 to 80 kilometers above the ground.
It was unclear whether the severed communication was caused by an explosion or simpler electronic problems.
The rocket was carrying a 100-kilometer satellite, the Science Technology Satellite No. 2 (STSAT-2), aimed at observing the atmosphere and ocean. As of around 5:20 p.m., KARI President Lee Joo-jin was still hopeful that the rocket, despite of its communications problems, may have successfully delivered the satellite into orbit.
An attempt to determine the satellite's exact trajectory was to be conducted around 6:40 p.m. Thursday when Norway's Svalbard Satellite station will attempt to detect the KSLV-1's beacon signals.
The part-Russian, part Korean rocket is a result of a 502.5 billion won ($418 million) investment. Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, which is providing the core technologies for the Korean rocket project, designed and developed the KSLV-I first-stage, which holds the rocket engine and liquid-fuel propulsion system. KARI developed the KSLV-1 second-stage, which is designed to hold the satellite and release it into proper position.
KSLV-1 was launched at around 5:01 p.m. on Thursday, a time set to maximize the sun's exposure to the rocket's solar-charged payload satellite and also to prevent it from getting in the way of other orbiting satellites.
