South Korea has officially released the first-ever domestically made space rocket, the science ministry said, months after one botched launch in October.
- South Korea became the world’s tenth country to launch a satellite into orbit using its very own technology. This was South Korea’s second possible Nuri rocket launch.
- Increasing problems with rival North Korea, strengthening its expanding aerospace aspirations, and proving it has critical technology needed to launch surveillance satellites and develop bigger missiles
A Successful Take-off to the space.
South Korea successfully launched its first satellite using only a domestically established rocket on Tuesday, officials said, bolstering the increasing world aerospace engineering aspirations and trying to demonstrate it has the technological solutions required to construct spy satellites and reach the maximum missile launchers amongst the strained relations with opponents North Korea.
The three-stage Nuri rocket launched a working “performance verification” satellite at a goal elevation of 700 kilometers (435 miles) from South Korea’s space launch site on a southern island around 4 p.m., according to the Science Ministry.
The satellite sent updates to an unattended South Korean station in Antarctica. According to ministry officials, it is holding four other smaller satellites that will be launched in the following days for Earth monitoring and other tasks.
“The Republic of Korea’s science and technology has made great advances,” Science Minister Lee Jong-Ho said at a live broadcast press conference at the launch center.
“The government will continue its audacious march toward becoming a space power together with the people.”
President Yoon Suk Yeol praised scientists and many others engaged in the launch via video conference and pledged to uphold his election promise to create a governmental aerospace agency, as per his office.
The 47-meter (154-foot) rocket rose into the air amid dazzling flames and dense white smoke, as seen on live TV. South Korea became the world’s tenth country to launch a satellite into orbit using its technology. It was South Korea’s second Nuri rocket launch.
The rocket’s dummy cargo reached the appropriate height but failed not to enter orbit on the first try last October because the engine of the rocket’s third stage burnt out sooner than intended.
South Korea, the world’s tenth biggest economy, is a significant manufacturer of semiconductors, vehicles, and cellphones. However, it falls behind Asian neighbors China, India, and Japan in terms of space development.
North Korea sent Earth observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but there is no evidence that either one ever returned home with space-based pictures and data.
Because the North Korean launches were considered as a cover for testing the country’s banned long-range missile capability, the United Nations imposed economic penalties.
South Korea has launched a bevy of satellites into orbit since the early 1990s, but all have required international space technology or launch locations. South Korea successfully deployed a satellite from its land for the first time in 2013, however, the initial phase of the rocket was made in Russia.
Following the satellite launch, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry accused the US of having “double standards and a brigandish nature,” claiming that Washington backed the South Korean launch while leading U.N. sanctions on the North the past year. North Korea did not respond immediately after Tuesday’s Nuri launch.
South Korea intends to launch four more Nuri satellites in the future periods.
It also plans to deploy a lunar mission, develop next-generation space launch vehicles, and carry large-scale satellites into orbit. According to South Korean authorities, the Nuri missile has no military function.
Since space launch technology has military implications, it is severely prohibited under a multilateral export control framework. Ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles frequently share bodies, engines, and other components, albeit missiles require reentry and other technology.
North Korea has tested approximately 30 missiles this year, with trajectories that could put the US territory and regional partners South Korea and Japan into hitting reach.
South Korea already possesses missiles capable of hitting all of North Korea, but some analysts believe it also requires relatively long missiles due to its proximity to regional military forces and prospective foes.
South Korea presently lacks its very own military surveillance satellites and relies on US spy satellites to monitor North Korean vital installations. South Korea has stated that it intends to deploy its spy satellites shortly.
