S. Korea celebrates after space rocket places satellites in orbit

SEOUL • South Korea's second test launch of its domestically produced Nuri rocket successfully placed several satellites in orbit yesterday, officials said, marking a major step in efforts to jumpstart its space programme after a first test failed last year.

The rocket lifted off from Naro Space Centre on the southern coast of South Korea.

A 162.5kg satellite designed to verify the rocket's performance successfully made contact with a base station in Antarctica after entering orbit, officials said.

The rocket successfully placed a 1.3-tonne dummy satellite and four small cube satellites developed by universities for research, into orbit.

"The sky of the Korean universe is now wide open," Science and ICT Minister Lee Jong-ho told a briefing. "Our science and technology has made great strides."

The three-stage KSLV-II Nuri rocket, designed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (Kari) to eventually put 1.5-tonne payloads into orbit 600km to 800km above Earth, is a cornerstone of the country's ambitious goals for 6G networks, spy satellites, and even lunar probes. It uses only Korean rocket technologies and is the country's first domestically built space launch vehicle.

South Korea's last booster, launched in 2013 after multiple delays and several failed tests, was jointly developed with Russia.

In Nuri's first test in October, the rocket completed its flight sequences but failed to put the test payload into orbit after its third-stage engine burned out earlier than planned.

Engineers adjusted the helium tank inside Nuri's third-stage oxidiser tank to address that problem, Yonhap news agency reported. Kari has said it plans at least four more test launches by 2027.

Nuri is key to South Korean plans to eventually build a Korean satellite-based navigation system and a 6G communications network.

The country plans to launch a range of military satellites, but officials deny the Nuri has any use as a weapon.

South Korea is also working with the United States on a lunar orbiter and hopes to land a probe on the Moon by 2030. After yesterday's successful launch, the US embassy in Seoul said on Twitter that it is looking forward to US-South Korea cooperation in space.

Space launches have long been a sensitive issue on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea faces sanctions over its nuclear-armed ballistic missile programme. In March, South Korea's military separately oversaw what it said was its first successful launch of a solid-fuel space-launch rocket, as part of its plans to launch spy satellites.

REUTERS