South Korea has delayed the maiden launch of homogenous space rocket Nuri to October next year from scheduled February, further deferring long-awaited moon landing by Korean astronauts.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced a change in the timetable for the three-stage Nuri rocket launches – first in October instead of February and the second in May 2022 instead of October.

The eight-month deferment is due to stalled development of the first stage of the rocket that is loaded with four 75-ton engines. The first stage is attached to the second stage with a single 75-ton engine and then the third stage with a 7-ton single engine.

Of the three stages, the first stage is known to require most highly technical skills as its structure itself is more complex than the second and third stages. The first stage that needs most power has about 1,000 pipes supply liquid fuel and components to fuel four engines. Industry insiders noted that the launch was delayed due to an assembly issue involving the four 75-ton engines, pipes, wires, and valves, and it needs to repeat disassembly and assembly procedures.

Some of the components in the assembly have also changed, requiring more time to bring in and verify new items.

The ministry also said that it has also decided to carry out a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) that was not part of its initial schedule to verify safety of the rocket in extremely low temperature environment and assembly the first, second, and third stages into an integrated launch vehicle. WDR is a test to verify rocket safety by storing liquid hydrogen at minus 183 degrees Celsius.

The Nuri launch project – led by Korea Aerospace Research Institute – is a 2010-2022 national project based on 1.96 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in budget. It involves indigenous rocket technology to launch a 1,500 kilogram payload into a 600-800 kilometer low earth orbit.

The science ministry also announced that it will launch development of Cheollian-3, a geostationary multi-purpose satellite, with an aim to set it off in 2027 after the launch of Nuri space rocket.

The geostationary multi-purpose satellite development project passed the preliminary feasibility test in June and earned 411.8 billion won in budget. Cheollian-3 will aim to provide support to counter disasters such as by monitoring water disasters and supporting coastal guard activities. It will also provide global positioning system signals and play the role of a testbed for future satellite communication technology.

The delay in Nuri space rocket launch will influence Korea’s lunar exploration as Korea had planned to complete lunar landing module by re-engineering Nuri space rocket.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute-led lunar exploration project involves development of lunar orbiter and landing module.

The lunar orbiter is a space probe that revolves around the moon to explore geographical features and collect landing location information. Korea Aerospace Research Institute had planned to launch a lunar orbiter within this year but was delayed after it failed to adjust target weight 550 kilograms of lunar orbiter last year.

The launch of the lunar orbiter has been pushed back to July, 2022, and its budget has expanded from 197.8 billion won in September, last year, to 233.3 billion won in March.

Korea Aerospace Research Institute had also planned to develop a lunar landing module by 2025 before its launch but the delay in the development of lunar orbiter has pushed back the development completion period to 2030.

By Kim Si-gyun, Lee Jong-hwa, and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]