Ye Olde Chosun—killjoys that they are—are bitching that the successful launch of the Naro-ho rocket doesn’t mean squat since it was done with a liquid fuel stage imported from Russia.
And making it worse, Korea stopped research on liquid fuel stages in 2002. Because of that, Korea doesn’t even have an engine test facility. Which means we’re pretty much still at square one in Korea’s goal to develop an indigenous launch vehicle by 2021. Which sucks.
One prof said if they’d continued developing rocket technology alongside the Naro-ho project (conducted with Russia), they might not have a rocket as good as the Naro-ho, but they’d have something a lot better than North Korea’s Unha 3.
The reason Korea suspended independent development, experts say, is because it failed to realize that no country shares its rocket engine technology. Japan was no exception to this. Its liquid fuel engine technology comes from the United States, but it was provided in “black box” form—that is, you could see the parts, but you couldn’t see how they worked. The Russians did the same thing with the Naro-ho’s first stage. Even the Science and Technology minister hadn’t touched the first stage of the rocket until five days before launch when, in Russian tradition, he “patted the ass” of the rocket as a prayer for success.
Marmot’s Note: Hey, don’t look at me. I don’t work for KAIST.
PS: The Chosun has a great image charting the development of the Korean space program.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hahahaha… that is not true. The Koreans learned that an “S” shaped lift off saves wear and tear on the launch pad. That launch pad has been used in all three attempts!
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/01/31/south-koreas-satellite-works-and-its-rocket-kicks/?mod=google_news_blog
Korean tax payers everywhere are thankful that launch pad conservation methods have been observed!
This is just impatience on Korean people’s part. It takes decades and huge amounts of money for research and development to get the rocket technology. Korea just started this project couple of years ago. Korea like other countries, has to pay its dues before it’s considered a genuine space exploring country. This doesn’t come over night, and it doesn’t come cheap – certainly not $500 million, that’s a joke. But my question is, why Korea has to be known as a space powerhouse? What is the point of all this spent money and effort?
“it failed to realize that no country shares its rocket engine technology.”
In other words, they couldn’t copy off of someone else?
Now if only the same people responsible for ‘launch pad conservation’ could be in charge of larger projects, like ‘four rivers conservation’ or ‘corruption whistleblowing’…
South Korea is a member of the MTCR circle and thus has a limit imposed on the military rocket (including space system) range, payload, and fuel type.
Civil/Scientific projects, such as NaRo, are allowed though, but this means that the Agency for Defense Development, where the most of Korea’s best rocket scientists work, cannot participate. Also, not a single WON from the vast defense budget due to the geopolitical situation surrounding the peninsula.
Naro-ho’s liquid fuel program is basically a propulsion system that is supposed to send a certain weight over a certain long distance, but that cannot be used in military application due to Korea’s self imposed MTCR limitation. One can imagine what the anti-NK politicians thought of that.
So basically the menpower and money just sat there while NaRo project struggled with limited budget, public ridicule (such as the linked Chosun article), and attention seeking politicians.
And those NaRo-ho people did what they were asked to do, with what little they were given.
Everybody copied everyone. Wernher Von Braun wasn’t exactly a blue blooded American, was he?
South Korea has another big obstacle in the restrictions laid out on Korea by the US, on missile range limited to 300 km. South Korea has to build its rocket technology to not go over this limit, thus another reason why they have to depend on Russia. Why is there a limit on South Korea only, when all the neighboring countries are not under such restrictions?
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