Korean start-up Innospace launches country's first private test rocket

Hanbit-TLV, a test rocket developed by Innospace, takes off at the Alcantara Launch Center in northern Brazil at 2:52 p.m. on Sunday. [INNOSPACE]

A Korean start-up launched the country’s first private-developed test rocket in a suborbital test.

Innospace, a Sejong-based space start-up, on Tuesday confirmed that the test launch of the Hanbit-TLV performance demonstration rocket was successfully carried out.

Innospace’s test rocket was launched at the Alcantara Launch Center in northern Brazil at 2:52 p.m. on Sunday. The rocket flew for 4 minutes and 33 seconds before falling into the designated safety zone.

The engine lasted for 106 seconds, which fell short of the previously planned 118 seconds, yet its performance was stable, according to Innospace.

Hanbit-TLV, the test vehicle, is a 16.3-meter (53.5-foot) single-stage rocket designed to verify the performance of a 15-ton-thrust rocket engine developed by Innospace.

With the success of the private rocket launch, Innospace became the first Korean company to secure a hybrid rocket engine technology to bring small-sized satellites into a target orbit.

Innospace aims to develop Korea’s first private commercial launcher, the Hanbit-Nano, by 2024, with data collected from the test launch.

Hanbit-Nano will be a two-stage rocket capable of carrying 50-kilogram (110-pound) payload into space, equipped with a 15-ton-thrust hybrid engine powered by solid fuel and liquid oxidizer.

“The successful test launch of the Hanbit-TLV means that we have secured the capacity to develop a rocket with original technologies, and that new opportunities were made for us to knock on the door of the global commercial rocket launch service market,” said Innospace CEO Kim Soo-jong.

During the test launch, Hanbit-TLV carried a real payload instead of a dummy load. The 20-kilogram payload, an inertial navigation system developed by the Brazilian Air Force’s Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, successfully compiled the operation data as well, said the company.

This was Innospace’s second attempt at the suborbital test, as the previously planned launch had been delayed three times in December due to technical issues and weather conditions.

Innospace was founded in September 2017.

“Being a private start-up with limited human and financial resources, we faced a number of challenges while developing a rocket with original technologies,” said Kim.

“But we made it in such a short period of time thanks to the hard work and support from our employees and partner companies.”

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