KSLV-II delayed second time due to sensor glitch

Tech

Published: 15 Jun. 2022, 18:51 Updated: 15 Jun. 2022, 19:10

KSLV-II delayed second time due to sensor glitch

The Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-II), or Nuri, is seen on its launch pad Wednesday at the Naro Space Center in Goheung County in South Jeolla. The launch of the domestically developed KSLV-II, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, was delayed indefinitely due to a technical glitch. [YONHAP]

The launch of Korea’s homegrown carrier rocket, originally scheduled for Thursday, was delayed indefinitely due to a technical problem with a sensor in an important tank.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said the launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-II), or Nuri, was canceled due to a malfunction of a sensor in an oxidizer tank in the first-stage booster.

“We concluded that it is impossible to proceed with the launch, and decided to transport the vehicle back to the assembly center to assess the issue,” said Ko Jeong-hwan, head of the KSLV-II program office at KARI during a press briefing Wednesday.

KARI said it could not give a new time for the launch because it didn't know how long it would take to make technical adjustments. KARI originally designated a week from June 16 to 23 for launch dates, but whether the launch will make it during that period is not known.

KARI said it will announce a new launch date as soon as the problem is taken care of.

The vehicle was transported back to the vehicle assembly building at the Naro Space Center in Goheung County in South Jeolla, on Wednesday afternoon. The carrier rocket had been transported from that building to the launch pad and put in a vertical position to prepare for the launch on Wednesday morning.

The problem was with a sensor measuring the amount of oxidizer in a first-stage booster tank. Oxidizer is a substance that initiates combustion. The malfunctioning sensor conveyed inaccurate numbers during the inspection process, and KARI said that it could not determine what was causing the technical glitch.

This was the second time the launch was delayed.

The original launch date announced in May was Wednesday June 15, but on Tuesday it was delayed by a day due to weather conditions at the launch site.

“We are sorry that we had to delay the launch date to ensure a successful launch and avoid any safety concerns,” said KARI Director Lee Sang-ryul during the press conference.

The KSLV-II is a three-stage, liquid-fueled carrier rocket developed entirely with homegrown technologies. A total of 1.96 trillion won ($1.6 billion) has been spent on the KSLV-II since 2010.

The scheduled launch was Korea’s second attempt at launching a homegrown carrier rocket into space, following a trial on Oct. 21, 2021 that ended in partial success.

During that launch, the rocket successfully went through the separation of the first and second stage boosters and hit its target altitude of 700 kilometers (435 miles), but a dummy payload failed to stay in the targeted 700-kilometer orbit.

If the mission is successful, Korea will become the seventh nation to succeed in launching a satellite of more than 1 ton into space following Russia, the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and India.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]