President Lee Myung-bak says "Korea aims to be one of world's top seven space powerhouses in ten years"

The nation will see a Korean satellite blast off at a space center built by Korean scientists and engineers as early as late July.
At the June 11th inaugural ceremony for the Naro Space Center in Oenaro-do, Yenae-ri, Bongrae-myeon, Goheung-gun, South Jeolla Province, officials from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced, "Korea will launch the 'Naro-ho' (Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, or KLSV-1), Korea's first satellite rocket, in late July." With the inauguration of the Naro Space Center, Korea became the 13th country in the world to operate a space center. If the Naro-ho is successfully launched, the country will become the world's tenth nation to send a self-developed satellite into orbit.

Korea becomes 13th country to operate space center

(Photo)The launch pad, standing 33 meters tall, is equipped with a rocket model for performance testing.

In his congratulatory remarks at the ceremony, President Lee Myung-bak said, "Korea will continue to invest in research and development for space exploration to usher in a space era on our own in ten years, and become one of the world's top seven space powerhouses."

"Fifty years ago, when the U.S., Russia and Europe were advancing into space, Korea was still struggling to overcome poverty and hunger; sending men to the moon seemed to have nothing to do with Koreans," Lee said. "However, Korea has now completed a space center, something operated by only ten countries throughout the world, less than 20 years since we began a space development program, an achievement that we are truly proud of."

"Korea will be able to send astronauts into space and to the moon using our own technology in the not-so-distant future," President Lee said, adding, "In order for us to do so, we must speed up the development of a Korean-style rocket launcher based on technology that we have acquired and developed on our own thus far."

Urging his fellow citizens to shoot for the stars and embrace a new future for the nation, the president said the successful launch of Naro-ho (KLSV-1), set for late July, would serve as a turning point for Korea to usher in a space era banking on homegrown technology. The ceremony brought together more than 1,000 people, including government officials, lawmakers, senior officials from regional and local governments, and local residents.

Korea broke ground on the space center in December 2000, and invested 312.4 billion won over the past eight years to complete the facility. Naro Space Center chief, Min Kyung-joo, said in his progress report, "In the beginning, our researchers relied on Russian technology, but we gradually installed the launch and control facilities using Korea's own technology, and completed performance tests through testing on 14 occasions."

Min said the center is conducting launch pad validation testing using a ground validation launch pad, and aims to complete the test by the end of June. According to the Naro-ho launch schedule, the center will also bring in a first-stage rocket model from Russia in June, and complete a second-stage aviation model later in the month.

Laser reflector mounted on satellite

Lee Joo-jin, President of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said, "With the inauguration of the Naro Space Center, Korea has already passed the development phase in the fields of space center design and construction, and entered a utilization phase." Lee added, "Through the successful launch of the Naro-ho, which is scheduled for late July, we expect Korea will demonstrate its capacity in space center operation technology and the capability of its operators in the utilization phase."

Lee also said that during the month of July, Korea will complete the assembly of the stage-1 rocket and a second-stage rocket model that will? be actually lifted off, as well as checking off launch preparations, before launching the Naro-ho in late July. Korea's 'science and technology satellite No. 2,' which will be sent into orbit aboard the Naro-ho, will be moved to the Naro Space Center from the KAIST Space Center at 10 a.m. on July 12.

Korea's science and technology satellite No. 2 will circle the earth at low altitude orbit (300 km to 1,500 km) for two years. The satellite was developed jointly by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, KAIST, the Satellite Technology Research Center, and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology beginning in October 2002.

The satellite, which was developed using homegrown technology, is of small size, weighing about 100 kg. It is equipped with a microwave radio meter that is capable of measuring humidity in the atmosphere and ocean and that was developed by GIST, and a laser reflector that was developed by KAIST and the Satellite Technology Research Center.

Lee Kang-bong,editorial board member
aacc409 at naver.com

[June 18, 2009]
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Source - ScienceTimes