South Korea Targets To Launch Locally Made Space Rockets In 2023

Rocket Soyuz 2.1a. (Wikimedia Commons / Artem Lepesin)

JAKARTA - South Korea launched its next-generation medium-size observation satellite on Saturday, March 19. The launch is part of South Korea's efforts to boost the space industry and develop its own space technology.

The 540-kilogram satellite, loaded on the Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket, will take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Saturday morning (local time). And contacted the Svalbard Satellite Station in Norway once it reached its target orbit, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Equipped with an imaging sensor system developed by South Korean researchers, the satellite will carry out a four-year observation mission at an altitude of 497.8 kilometers above Earth's surface.

Launching Koreatimes, this satellite is scheduled to provide a video of Earth observations in October, after undergoing trials for six months in space.

It is known, the South Korean government has invested a total of 158 billion won 139 million US dollars in satellite projects since 2015. This development project is led by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

South Korea's Ministry of Science said most of the core components of the satellite's optical payload were developed by South Korean research institutes and companies, including the Korea Science and Standards Research Institute and defense IT company Hanwha Systems Co.

This program is inseparable from South Korea's plan to launch a medium-sized satellite with its own rocket, using local technology, in the second half of 2023.

The country of Gingseng is scheduled to launch the locally developed Nuri rocket with a mock payload in October, for which the country has allocated nearly 2 trillion won since 2010. The Nuri will replace the South Korean Naro rocket, whose first-stage engine was made by Russia. The Naro rocket was launched in 2013.

To keep up the momentum of its development, South Korea is planning another mid-scale satellite launch next year, with Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. leading its design to production.

To note, until the end of last year South Korea had 17 operational satellites, far less than the United States with 1,897 satellites, China 412 satellites, and Russia with 176 satellites according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a US-based non-profit organization.