S. Korea to set up task force to probe rocket launch mishap

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will set up a special task force this
week to determine why its first space rocket failed to place a satellite into
orbit, the government said Sunday.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said detailed analysis of all
pertinent data collected on the Aug. 25 launch showed that the failure of the
nose fairing assembly most likely caused the Science and Technology Satellite-2
(STSAT-2) to fail to orbit around Earth.
"The launch review committee headed by Lee In, an aerospace expert at the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, focused on why the fairings did not
come off the rocket," a government source said. He added independent experts came
up with several possible scenarios for the malfunction and agreed on the need to
set up a dedicated task force to look into the matter.
The task force will be set up this week with five aerospace specialists.
The first and second stage of the 140t Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1)
functioned properly, but one of the two nose fairings on the rocket did not
detach from the rocket on time. The added weight of the fairing that weighs 300kg
-- three times more than the scientific satellite -- made it hard for the second
stage booster to reach appropriate altitude and velocity.
The government said a day after the KSLV-1 launch that the satellite probably
burned as it reentered the atmosphere soon after blastoff.
The launch review committee, meanwhile, plans to visit the Naro Space Center
486km south of Seoul for two days starting Tuesday to check all sequences related
to the KSLV-1's launch, including some media reports that claimed large pieces of
the rocket fell off during ascent.
The ministry in charge of the country's science and technology policies said a
preliminary report should be made public by late September, with more conclusive
findings to be released by the end of October after all data have been checked by
the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Russia Khrunichev State
Research and Production Space Center.
KARI is responsible for the KSLV-1 project, while Khrunichev provided
comprehensive technical support and built the first stage rocket.
South Korea, with no experience in building space rockets, worked with Russia to
build its first rocket.
South Korea spent 502.5 billion won (US$411.2 million) on the KSLV-1 and 13.6
billion won for the satellite built jointly by KARI, the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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