South Korea postponed its mission to launch satellites

South Korea on November 29 suspended its mission to launch its satellite just 17 minutes before the missile left the launch pad as planned, due to technical problems.

AFP news agency quoted South Korean Deputy Minister of Science Cho Yul-Rae told reporters at the Naro Space Center in the southern coast of the country that the missile launch had been postponed and the problem had been assigned. .

According to Deputy Minister Cho Yul-Rae, the launch could not take place on November 29 (initially planned to leave the launch platform at 16:00 on November 29 local time, 14 hours on the same day in Vietnam. ), however, he did not say the next time the missile could bring satellites into space.

Naro-1 rocket on launch pad at Naro Space Center

It is known that this is the third attempt by Korea in its mission to launch a satellite into orbit to join the club of space-owning countries, including Asian countries like Japan, Korea, India.

Earlier, the KSLV-1 rocket, also known as the 140-ton Naro-1, had twice failed when the satellite could not be separated from the missile to enter orbit in 2009 and the rocket exploded in just two minutes. after leaving the launch pad in 2010.

This was the second time in a row that the Naro-1 missile was delayed at the last minute due to technical problems. Its initial launch schedule was on October 26, but engineers discovered there was an error in the connection between the launch pad and the first floor of the rocket.

According to Vice Minister Cho Yul-Rae, the problem this time involves the connection between the propulsion system and the second floor of the rocket.

It is known that the second floor of Naro-1 - a two-stage rocket using solid fuel - was built by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI); while the first floor was implemented by the Khrunichev Center for Research and Manufacturing of Space (Russia).

According to AFP, Korea's space ambition over the years has been restrained by US allies because Washington is concerned that this East Asian country will develop a missile program that will entail regional arms race. especially for DPRK.

Meanwhile, Japan and China had their first satellite launch in the 1970s, India was successful in the 1980s. South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, was lacking in support. America had to lag behind.

Since 2001, the country has collaborated with Russia to deploy its space program.