WORLD NEWS | South Korea to launch first commercial-grade satellite

SEOUL, April 12 (AP) — South Korea plans to launch its first commercial-grade satellite next month on a domestically produced rocket as part of its space development plan, officials said Tuesday.

South Korean officials have said their indigenously developed Nuri space launch vehicle has no military use. But some experts say the rocket’s development will eventually help the country acquire the technology it needs to build larger missiles and launch surveillance satellites amid hostilities with rival North Korea.

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In June last year, South Korea carried out its first satellite launch using the Nuri rocket. That launch involved what South Korean officials called a “performance verification” satellite, primarily to check the rocket’s capacity, and next month’s event is aimed at sending a commercial-grade satellite into orbit for the first time.

The science ministry said the rocket would blast off from the country’s space launch center on the southern island on May 24. A statement from the ministry said it had set alternate launch dates between May 25 and 31 in case the schedule could change due to weather.

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The rocket will carry a main satellite called Next Generation SmallSat 2 and seven other smaller CubeSats. The mission of the main satellite is to verify imaging radar technology and observe cosmic radiation in low Earth orbit, the statement said.

Authorities have completed assembly of the rocket’s first and second stages and are conducting final environmental tests on the eight satellites that will be placed on the rocket’s third stage.

Last year’s launch was the second for the Nuri rocket. On its first launch in 2021, the rocket’s dummy payload reached its intended altitude but failed to reach orbit. After next month’s launch, South Korea plans to launch three more Nuri rocket launches, officials said.

“Nuri’s third launch is significant because it is the first attempt to launch a commercial-grade satellite and the first time a private company has jointly manufactured an indigenous Nuri rocket,” said First Deputy Science Minister Oh Tae-seok, quoted in the ministerial statement talk.

South Korea, the world’s 10th largest economy, is a major producer of semiconductors, cars and smartphones. But its space development programs lag behind those of neighbors China, India and Japan. South Korea has launched a series of satellites into space since the early 1990s, but all involved foreign rocket technology or launch sites.

North Korea launched Earth-observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but there is no evidence the satellites have been operational. North Korea has come under international sanctions over the two launches, as the United Nations sees them as a disguised test of North Korea’s banned long-range missile technology. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)