South Korea to Launch Second KSLV Rocket in June

Naro ready for June 9 rocket launch
Korea Times

South Korea’s first space rocket launch was a dismal failure, although government officials insist on calling it a “half-success.” The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the country’s space agency, doesn’t intend to leave any doubts this time around as it prepares to light up the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 (KSLV-1) again for an optimistic retry on June 9.

Yet it is difficult to pinpoint the areas required for improvement, when engineers and officials are still unsure what caused KSLV-1 to fail to place its payload satellite into orbit on its maiden flight last August.

“Our engineers know that failure is not an option this time around, and we are thoroughly inspecting every single possibility,” Cho Gwang-rae, who heads KARI’s rocket development unit said.

The agency’s predominant objective currently is to improve the design of the KSLV-1’s second stage, the part of the rocket that holds the satellite, redoing the wiring and adjusting the mechanical structure to simplify the system and reduce the possibilities of malfunction, said the KARI official.

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