South Korea launched a space rocket built domestically on June 21 in the efforts of the two countries, a few months after the previous takeoff failed to place the cargo into the orbit.
Successful launch will increase the ambition of South Korea that develops but also proves that it has the main technology to build a larger space and missile -based surveillance system in the midst of hostility with North Korean rival, some experts said.
The three-stage Nuri rocket that brought what the officials called the “Performance Verification” satellite that functioned from the only launch center for South Korean space on a small island off the south coast at 4 pm. TV footage immediately showed a rocket with a national flag rising into the air with bright fire and above thick white smoke.
In the first attempt last October, the rocket doll content reached the desired height of 700 km (435 miles) but did not enter the orbit because the engine was the third stage of the rocket caught fire earlier than planned.
If the launch of Tuesday is successful, South Korea will become the 10th country of the world that places satellites into space with its own technology.
South Korea, the 10th largest economy in the world, is the main supplier of semiconductors, cars and smartphones in the world market. But the spatial development program is lagging behind the neighboring Asia China, India and Japan.
North Korea puts the first and second Earth’s observation satellites to the orbit in 2012 and 2016 although there is no evidence that one of the people who once transmits space -based images and data at home. North Korea’s launch invites US economic sanctions because it is seen as a cover to test long -term missile technology that is prohibited in the country.
Since the early 1990s, South Korea has sent many satellites to space, but all from the location of foreign launching or rods that were built with the help of foreign technology. In 2013, South Korea succeeded in launching a satellite for the first time from its land, but the first stage of the launch vehicle was produced by Russia.
After taking off on Tuesday, South Korea plans to do four launch of Nuri rocket again in the coming years. He also hopes to send an investigation to the moon, build a vehicle launching the next generation of space and send large -scale satellites to orbit.
Transfer of space launch technology is very limited under the multilateral export control regime because it has military applications. Experts say ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles sharing body, engine, and other similar components, although missiles require vehicles re -entering and other technologies.
If you put the satellite on the rocket, it will be a space launch vehicle. But if you put up a warhead on it, it becomes a weapon, “said Kwon Yong Soo, a former professor at the Korean National Defense University in South Korea. “If we succeed in the launch of Nuri, it really means because we also succeed in testing the long-distance rocket that can be used to build long-distance missiles.”
Lee Choon Geun, an honorary researcher at the South Korean Science and Technology Institute of Policy, said it was difficult to directly use Nuri as a missile because it uses liquid fuel that must be stored at very low temperatures and requires time to refuel that is longer than fuel Solid rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than solid fuels rather than Solid fuel rather than solid fuel.
He said North Korea’s long -distance missiles also use liquid fuel, but very toxic which is kept at ordinary temperatures and requires time to refuel faster than parrots.
This year, North Korea has launched around 30 missiles with a potential range that places its US mainland and regional allies such as South Korea and Japan in a striking distance.
Kwon said the launch of a successful Nuri Nuri would prove that South Korea also had the ability to send eye satellites to orbit.