ed Long and winding road
The nation’s third attempt to send a first satellite into orbit from its own soil was again delayed at the last minute Thursday.
But it’s too early to be overly disappointed, given that the road to space exploration is long and winding.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said it called off the blast-off of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) rocket, or Naro-1, after detecting abnormal signals from the thrust vector system of its second-stage rocket built by Korea. A KARI official said the system was drawing an excessive amount of electric current.
The rocket was set to lift off at 4 p.m. but the countdown was halted about 17 minutes before the launch time. It’s the second time in a month that Korea has been forced to cancel a rocket launch at the last minute in its ambition to join the space club of nations that have launched satellites from their own land.
On Oct. 26, Seoul canceled the rocket launch due to a damaged seal in the connector between Naro’s Russian-built first-stage rocket and the launch pad. The country’s two earlier attempts to launch the rocket in 2009 and 2010 also ended in failure.
The official launch window is set to close on Dec. 5, but taking into consideration the tight schedule, it is unlikely that it will take place by the end of the year.
The delay may have left many people discouraged but it’s comforting that we can expect a successful liftoff next time. This explains why we should encourage ― with all our hearts ― both the Korean and Russian scientists who have devoted themselves to the project over the last few years.
The last-minute suspension of a launch is not rare even by international standards. India halted liftoff of a rocket just one second before its launch time because of a technical glitch in March 2001.
Given that the nation’s space contract with Russia is to be terminated after the third attempt ― whether successful or not ― we can’t overemphasize the importance of perfect preparations.
The rough sailing in our space program is a good testament to towering barriers to Korea’s entry into the high-cost world of space technology and exploration. It’s ironic that the United States, our strongest ally, has been a stumbling block for Korea’s space program for decades due to its fear about a possible arms race in Northeast Asia.
Nevertheless, the nation can hardly afford to back down from its space plan, considering the potential of the world’s space market that amounted to about $290 billion last year and has expanded at an annual rate of 7 percent.
Korea has a separate program to develop its own rocket that can put a 1.5-ton satellite into orbit by 2021. Given this, the Naro-1 project ― Korea’s first step toward space ― should certainly be successful.