South Korean aerospace company Innospace launched its suborbital test launch vehicle HANBIT-TLV on Sunday (local time) at the Alcantara Space Center in northern Brazil.

The company is “verifying the flight performance of the engine and its payloads,” Innospace said, adding that it will release more details once it completes data analysis after the flight.

Online video footage shot and shared by local residents showed the launch vehicle shooting up in a straight line and cruising into space. An official from the company said that “visually there doesn’t seem to be any problem in the launch.” More data will be available Tuesday morning in Korea, the company said.

The HANBIT-TLV is a 16.3-meter single stage hybrid rocket, with a 1-meter diameter and a weight of 8.4 tons. The rocket has been developed to validate the hybrid engines that will be applied to the HANBIT-Nano two-stage satellite launch vehicle.

The HANBIT-TLV launcher carried onboard the Brazilian Department of Aerospace Science and Technology’s inertial navigation system, SISNAV.

In December, Innospace attempted to launch HANBIT-TLV, but was postponed three times due to weather conditions and mechanical errors. Earlier on Feb. 9, the company attempted a launch, but the countdown was halted 10 seconds before liftoff due to battery supercooling issues.

The company had been waiting for an appropriate weather window since to launch the vehicle after some repairs.

By Pulse

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