Author Topic: South Korean space developments  (Read 69897 times)

Offline savuporo

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South Korean space developments
« on: 08/10/2015 03:35 pm »
When i look at international launch manifests i always feel like there is a gap where something should say "South Korea"
The country is obviously a technological and industrial powerhouse, so i'm surprised that the likes of Samsung, LG and Hyundai chaebols, who otherwise have their hands in pretty much everything from microelectronics to shipbuilding are not looking at launch markets.

So i refreshed my background reading:
KSLV-II update from July 30 this year :
 http://www.koreatimesus.com/s-korea-to-begin-2nd-stage-of-space-rocket-development/
Quote
The 300-ton space rocket, named the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 2 (KSLV-II), will be test-fired during the third and final stage of the space program that will commence in April 2018.
The first stage of the 1.96 trillion-won (US$1.68 billion) program began in March 2010, in which the country successfully built and test-fired a 7-ton thrust engine, the ministry said

Wow, $1.7B for a 7-ton engine ? Thats a .. steep asking price. Rocketry is hard and expensive, but you dont have to invent everything from scratch these days.

Then i found this thread with lots of pretty pictures:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=35515
(rocket pr0n)

Here is a backgrounder from 2013 written after the first successful Naro-1 launch:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2230/1

EDIT: Whoops, of course there was a previous thread that i should have found: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=18193.msg453094
And this:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33272.0


« Last Edit: 08/10/2015 03:47 pm by savuporo »
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Offline zotiraki

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #1 on: 10/15/2015 08:26 pm »
I'm a little surprised there isn't more about South Korea's space program in this forum.  Maybe there's a thread I'm missing?
The attached file is a copy of a 3 Jan 2014 file from KARI (I believe).  I used google to translate the Korean so it's not perfect.  Seems to me there should be an update to this somewhere but couldn't find it.  Probably have to conduct a search in Korean.

Cheers,

Mike

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #2 on: 10/16/2015 03:38 am »
I'm a little surprised there isn't more about South Korea's space program in this forum.  Maybe there's a thread I'm missing?
The attached file is a copy of a 3 Jan 2014 file from KARI (I believe).  I used google to translate the Korean so it's not perfect.  Seems to me there should be an update to this somewhere but couldn't find it.  Probably have to conduct a search in Korean.

Cheers,

Mike
Here for starters:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32355.0
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33272.0
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27497.0
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=18193.0
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=21079.0
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=5954.0
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=1945.0
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=1784.0

Offline zotiraki

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #3 on: 10/16/2015 02:21 pm »
Thanks for the info, but still nothing very current. 

Cheers,

Mike

Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #4 on: 10/16/2015 04:58 pm »
There simply isnt much info in english. This was most recent somewhat surprising bit:

https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/623621668548816896
Quote
MT @barbylon S Korea lunar orbiter "pathfinder" mission to launch in 2018, construction of a Korean DSN node, science payload development.

MT @barbylon S Korea will seek instruments for lunar orbiter through AO in "early 2016", open to international participants #nesf2015

I wonder if this is a translation error, as i though the plan was to get KSLV-II flying first, which is not going to happen that soon.
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Offline zotiraki

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #5 on: 10/16/2015 08:18 pm »
Check out http://eng.kari.re.kr/sub01_02_101 Lunar Pathfinder precedes Lunar Orbiter/Lander apparently.

Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #6 on: 10/16/2015 08:32 pm »
Check out http://eng.kari.re.kr/sub01_02_101 Lunar Pathfinder precedes Lunar Orbiter/Lander apparently.

Thats interesting.
This was what KARI was showing a year ago, thats the lander.


I remember reading something about re-organization and re-budgeting of the entire national space effort in Korea, including some vague references to political scandals, but dont have english references at hand. Would be interesting to know if there is actually a new direction.
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Offline zotiraki

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #7 on: 10/17/2015 04:00 pm »
Best I can tell no new direction.  It looks like they are executing their space plan IAW the leaflet I attached a few posts ago.
There is a 2015 Space Plan but it's in Korean.  I suspect it lays out specific projects and budgets for this year.  Too bad we don't have a Korean speaker interested in keeping this updated.

Cheers,

Mike

Offline Star One

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #8 on: 12/30/2015 02:35 pm »
S. Korea to push moon exploration through 2020

Quote
SEOUL, Dec. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's science ministry said Wednesday it plans to launch a lunar exploration project next year, eventually seeking to send a landing vessel by 2020.

Under the first stage of the project that will run from 2016 to 2018, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will allocate 197.8 billion won (US$169 million) to conduct research and send an orbiter.

The ministry said it has already secured a 20 billion-won budget for 2016.

South Korea plans to develop the orbiter and the ground station independently with its own technologies, the ministry added.

It will also seek cooperation with overseas researchers, such as the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to develop payloads.

For the second phase of the project, the ministry will send a landing vessel to the moon with its own developed launch vehicle.

The ministry added it will make efforts to utilize its prior experiences in developing satellites.

[email protected]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2015/12/30/0504000000AEN20151230002200320.html

Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #9 on: 02/01/2016 12:36 am »
Too bad we don't have a Korean speaker interested in keeping this updated.

Well, I'm a Korean speaker, so... here it is.

I've been following the KARI Facebook page for some time and there have been some recent developments worth noting. Sadly for international readers, it's all in Korean as you'd expect. So I'll provide some condensed info here.

Quick recap on the KSLV-II rocket:

1st stage: 75-Ton (735kN) engine x 4
2nd stage: 75-Ton engine x 1
3rd stage: 7-Ton (69kN) engine x 1

The engines are currently being developed more or less from scratch (apart from the sounding rocket development in the 1990s with the KSR program) because Korea had hoped to get some technology transfers from Russia by using the RD-191 engine in the KSLV-I Naro last decade, but did not go as planned.

Engine build and test facilities have been completed last year (2015) near the site of the KSLV-I Naro launch at Oenarodo, Goheung-gun, South Jeolla Province.

On December 2015, the 7-Ton engine successfully completed a 100-second burn test:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9YaubKHRYZ0

What's being planned now according to KARI?

7-Ton engine:
- 160 iterations of further testing
- Lengthen burn time up to 500 seconds

75-Ton engine
- First burn test in 1st quarter of 2016
- 220 iterations of testing

First test launch vehicle
- 75-Ton engine proving platform with one engine in the first stage (KSLV-II has four, as mentioned)
- Launched planned at the end of 2017

KSLV-II's first official launch is still slated for 2020.


If anyone is interested in this development, I'll try to update this from time to time as new stuff comes up.

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #10 on: 02/01/2016 04:25 am »
Thanks wesley. Can you let us know what the propellants are for each stage?
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Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #11 on: 02/03/2016 12:50 am »
Thanks wesley. Can you let us know what the propellants are for each stage?

Drawing from the KSLV-2 official project site: http://www.kslv2.or.kr/sub0406

1st Stage
- 4 x 75-Ton LOX/Kerosene Turbo Pump Engine
- Isogrid Propellant Tank
- Propellant Mass: 130 Tons
- 3-Axis Control using Propellant - Hydraulic Nozzle Gimballing

2nd Stage
- 1 x 75-Ton LOX/Kerosene Turbo Pump Engine
- Propellant Mass: 35.6 Tons
- Pitch & Yaw Control using Propellant - Hydraulic Nozzle Gimballing
- Roll Control using Gas Generator Exhaust

3rd Stage
- 1 x 7-Ton LOX/Kerosene Turbo Pump Engine
- Propellant Mass: 10.7 Tons
- Pitch & Yaw Control using Electromechanical Nozzle Gimballing
- Roll Control using Cold Gas Thrusters

Payload Fairing
- Diameter: 3.05m
- Length: 8.0m
- Clean Separation System
- Customer-Specified Access Door

Payload Loading
- Mission Control System
- Telemetry System
- Tracking & Flight Safety System
- Power Supply System

The drawing also shows interstages between 1st/2nd and 2nd/3rd.

I suppose this answers some of the questions about the specifications of the rocket.
« Last Edit: 02/03/2016 12:51 am by wesley »

Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #12 on: 02/03/2016 01:11 am »
Wow, $1.7B for a 7-ton engine ? Thats a .. steep asking price. Rocketry is hard and expensive, but you dont have to invent everything from scratch these days.
This is an interesting point to note. The fact is that South Korea is wedged between Russia, China, Japan and... North Korea. Now consider, would any of those countries be willing to cooperate on enabling South Korea to build a rocket... which can also be potentially be used as an ICBM? Japan invaded and annexed Korean peninsula for 35 years in the first half of the 20th century, so the diplomatic relations always carry some tension at best. The other three countries stood on the opposite side during the cold war, so that's icky as well.

Russians did come close because they needed money after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s, but the cooperation fell apart as I mentioned earlier.

Meanwhile, United States used to impose rocket development ban on South Korea for quite some time as part of the military protection agreement, which includes stationing of a significant number of American troops in SK, acting as a deterrent for the North Korean invasion. This ostensibly was to prevent escalation of arms race between South-North Korean situation, but it's evident that North Korea just went ahead and built their own ICBM anyway. So what happened was that this was relaxed so that non-military, liquid propellant rocket development could proceed. But US had no intention of providing any underlying technology.

As a result, South Korea was practically left to invent rockets from scratch. And this is why there's no solid propellant stage in their indigenous rockets, and that there's a ton of money being thrown in.

If you ask me, KSLV-2 would've come to fruition a lot earlier without the Russian semi-cooperation. KSLV-1 would've been built using the indigenous KSR-3 technology according to the original plans. But now it's just a historical what-if. I just hope things go as planned with what were left with.

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #13 on: 02/03/2016 02:47 am »
Any payload masses for LEO and TLI?

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #14 on: 02/03/2016 04:53 am »
Some other images. Looks like they are using different diameters for the second and third stage.
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Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #15 on: 02/03/2016 05:39 am »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #16 on: 02/03/2016 05:47 am »
Lots of nice images here.

http://www.kslv2.or.kr/sub0404/articles/index/tableid/kslv-ii_photo/page/1

If you have trouble accessing an image, continuously keep on clicking on the image.
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Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #17 on: 02/03/2016 06:02 am »
Any payload masses for LEO and TLI?
[Please note that the links are all in Korean except for the eoPortal one - I will be translating the relevant bits into this post]

The official site mentions that it will be able to put 1,500kg of payload into orbit at 600 to 800km altitude. This has been repeated practically ad nauseam in Korea on pretty much every press release related to this project.

Launch profiles mentioned in the site includes "sun-synchronous orbit" at the main page and "polar orbit" in the FAQ.

http://www.kslv2.or.kr/sub0601/articles/view/tableid/faq/id/213

I believe it's referring to the same thing because this rocket's launch profile is strongly modeled after the ones used for Korea's own KOMPSAT (a.k.a. Arirang) series of multi-purpose satellites that use near-polar sun-synchronous orbits.

https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/k/kompsat-5

You'll see that the latest version, KOMPSAT-5, launched in 2013 using a Russian launcher, has a total mass of about 1,400kg and is in a sun-synchronous orbit with a mean altitude of 550km.

The FAQ also mentions that the upper stages may be upgraded to send a 500kg payload to Moon. This is highly likely a reference to the Korean Moon exploration program currently under way as a part of the pledge by the current president (Ms. Park Geun-hye). The payload is expected to include an orbiter and a lander, and it's hoped to be launched by 2020 atop KSLV-2, or if the project fails to deliver a working launcher, an American one.

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/science/science_general/607152.html

This news article from 2013 mentions how that "upgrade" will work. The KSLV-2 will have a 4th stage added, which uses a kick motor developed with KSLV-1, which I believe refers to KSLV-1's 2nd stage. Once KSLV-2 reaches a parking orbit at 300km altitude, the 4th stage will start up, add 3.1+km/s delta-v and break free of the Earth's gravitational pull.

The article also specifies that the orbiter+lander payload is targeted to be 550kg and the lander will include a robot weighing 20kg.

http://www.hankookilbo.com/v/c3cdecb1f0c0414c86d4fe8f99f9ef9f

This news article from October 2015 has some further tidbits about the Moon program. The 2020 deadline is still on track, while 2018 will supposedly see a preliminary lunar orbiter launch, with the help from NASA. While it does not mention what launch vehicle is to be used, it'll be highly likely to be a foreign one - KSLV-2 will only see a test launch of a single 75-Ton engine prototype by the end of 2017 as noted in the earlier post.

Offline Stan-1967

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #18 on: 02/03/2016 06:04 am »
Very interesting to see the roadmap from the single engine, then 2, then 4, then 9.   I think they have been paying attention to another successful entrant into the global launch market.   They are working on a M1-D class G.G engine and similar engine configurations further down their roadmap.   The KSLV IV looks pretty darn close to the SpaceX FH, and if I interpreted the figures right, they say it will get 64t to LEO.   I also think I am seeing a 4.4m core & 47m tall vehicle called out in the picture.  So its a bit more squatty than FH.  They also look to be trying to gain some staging efficiency with the 3 stage configuration.   I'd be interested in the mass fractions they are projecting for the various stages of the KSLV-IV.

Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #19 on: 02/03/2016 06:17 am »
One personal thing to note - launch site for both KSLV-1 and KSLV-2 are situated only about 90km (56mi) southeast from where I live. I've personally visited the place before, as well. So I'm keeping an eye on these projects from not so far away, so to speak. :)

Here's the scale model (after assembly) of the KSLV-1 Naro that I bought at the souvenir shop near the launch site.
« Last Edit: 02/03/2016 06:20 am by wesley »

Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #20 on: 02/03/2016 06:23 am »
Very interesting to see the roadmap from the single engine, then 2, then 4, then 9.   I think they have been paying attention to another successful entrant into the global launch market.   They are working on a M1-D class G.G engine and similar engine configurations further down their roadmap.   The KSLV IV looks pretty darn close to the SpaceX FH, and if I interpreted the figures right, they say it will get 64t to LEO.   I also think I am seeing a 4.4m core & 47m tall vehicle called out in the picture.  So its a bit more squatty than FH.  They also look to be trying to gain some staging efficiency with the 3 stage configuration.   I'd be interested in the mass fractions they are projecting for the various stages of the KSLV-IV.
You've interpreted the number correctly. KSLV-4 is still quite far away, so we'll have to see how that pans out.

Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #21 on: 04/01/2016 11:07 pm »
Some recent news on this. Maybe more appropriately belonging here : https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33272.0


Yonhap News 2016/01/31
Quote
On the country's plans to send a unmanned probe to the moon, KARI said that the program involves a locally built probe being sent to the Moon on a foreign-made rocket in 2018. It said the moon mission and the KSLV-2 are not linked at present.


Yonhap News 2015/12/30
Quote
South Korea's science ministry said Wednesday it plans to launch a lunar exploration project next year, eventually seeking to send a landing vessel by 2020.
Under the first stage of the project that will run from 2016 to 2018, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will allocate 197.8 billion won (US$169 million) to conduct research and send an orbiter.
The ministry said it has already secured a 20 billion-won budget for 2016.

Korea Herald, 2016-02-28
Quote
South Korea will spend a total of 746.4 billion won ($603 million) on its space program this year, as part of efforts to realize its long-cherished goal of reaching the moon.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said Sunday that it has also agreed with relevant ministries to allocate 200 billion won for the next three years to launch its first lunar exploration

LPSC2016, March
Quote
As part of the national space promotion plan and presidential national agen-das, South Korea’s institutes and agencies under the auspices of the Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Future Planning (MSIP) are currently working on a phase-A study for a Korean Lunar Exploration Program (KLEP) [1]. A Korean pathfinder lunar orbiter (KPLO) is to be fol-lowed by a Korean Lunar Explorer (KLE) which con-stitutes an orbiter and a lander unit equipped with a small rover with a mass of approximately 20 kg

KPLO’s main scientific return is considered to be composed of visual and spectral image data, space environmental measurements and data related to lunar resources. For the exploration of lunar resources two major exploration areas need to be considered: (1) resources in polar regions for the potential establish-ment of lunar bases or (2) future energy resources such as Helium-3 and precious rare earth elements along with radioactive resources like Uranium. KPLO is planned to operate in a circular polar orbit at an orbit altitude of 100 km. Its size will be 1.9 x 1.7 x 2.3 (m) with a dry mass of 550 kg. The total science payload mass will amount to approximately 40 kg with instru-ments contributed by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and other Korean research institutes and centers, as well as NASA. The development peri-ods for KPLO and KLE are considered to be 2016–2018 and 2017–2020, respectively [1].


Also, one more 2015 poster:
http://nesf2015.arc.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/downloads/pdf/10.pdf

From this it seems that the orbiter project for 2018 is definitely funded and going seriously ahead in 2016. It also seems to have an official KPLO name now. The timeline of course is ambitious, as it seems to involve indigenous ground tracking infrastructure build-out etc, plus a launch on foreign launch vehicle.
« Last Edit: 04/01/2016 11:16 pm by savuporo »
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Online Galactic Penguin SST

Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #22 on: 04/02/2016 09:54 am »
Some recent news on this. Maybe more appropriately belonging here : https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33272.0


Yonhap News 2016/01/31
Quote
On the country's plans to send a unmanned probe to the moon, KARI said that the program involves a locally built probe being sent to the Moon on a foreign-made rocket in 2018. It said the moon mission and the KSLV-2 are not linked at present.


Yonhap News 2015/12/30
Quote
South Korea's science ministry said Wednesday it plans to launch a lunar exploration project next year, eventually seeking to send a landing vessel by 2020.
Under the first stage of the project that will run from 2016 to 2018, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will allocate 197.8 billion won (US$169 million) to conduct research and send an orbiter.
The ministry said it has already secured a 20 billion-won budget for 2016.

Korea Herald, 2016-02-28
Quote
South Korea will spend a total of 746.4 billion won ($603 million) on its space program this year, as part of efforts to realize its long-cherished goal of reaching the moon.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said Sunday that it has also agreed with relevant ministries to allocate 200 billion won for the next three years to launch its first lunar exploration

LPSC2016, March
Quote
As part of the national space promotion plan and presidential national agen-das, South Korea’s institutes and agencies under the auspices of the Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Future Planning (MSIP) are currently working on a phase-A study for a Korean Lunar Exploration Program (KLEP) [1]. A Korean pathfinder lunar orbiter (KPLO) is to be fol-lowed by a Korean Lunar Explorer (KLE) which con-stitutes an orbiter and a lander unit equipped with a small rover with a mass of approximately 20 kg

KPLO’s main scientific return is considered to be composed of visual and spectral image data, space environmental measurements and data related to lunar resources. For the exploration of lunar resources two major exploration areas need to be considered: (1) resources in polar regions for the potential establish-ment of lunar bases or (2) future energy resources such as Helium-3 and precious rare earth elements along with radioactive resources like Uranium. KPLO is planned to operate in a circular polar orbit at an orbit altitude of 100 km. Its size will be 1.9 x 1.7 x 2.3 (m) with a dry mass of 550 kg. The total science payload mass will amount to approximately 40 kg with instru-ments contributed by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and other Korean research institutes and centers, as well as NASA. The development peri-ods for KPLO and KLE are considered to be 2016–2018 and 2017–2020, respectively [1].


Also, one more 2015 poster:
http://nesf2015.arc.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/downloads/pdf/10.pdf

From this it seems that the orbiter project for 2018 is definitely funded and going seriously ahead in 2016. It also seems to have an official KPLO name now. The timeline of course is ambitious, as it seems to involve indigenous ground tracking infrastructure build-out etc, plus a launch on foreign launch vehicle.

IIRC wasn't it supposed to be LADEE-based since I remember KARI has an agreement with NASA signed in the past?
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Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #23 on: 04/02/2016 03:40 pm »
IIRC wasn't it supposed to be LADEE-based since I remember KARI has an agreement with NASA signed in the past?

Do you have a source for that ? Because both the timeline and scope of the recently signed LOUis and MOUs do not seem to indicate anything as extensive in collaboration, and would also likely run into ITAR and other technology transfer issues. They seem to have signed a 'technical assistance agreement' with JPL, whereas LADEE was Ames and GSFC. And that TAA i would guess is more about tracking and operations.

Also see this article published by KARI this year:
Getting the facts about the Korea-US Space Cooperation Agreement
Quote
2. Does it include direct technology transfer related to the development of a launch vehicle and lunar exploration?

This agreement comprehensively stipulates the content of and procedure for cooperation on projects, but technology transfer is neither a prerequisite nor the purpose of the agreement

But the timelines they are talking about do seem highly accelerated, call for instrument proposals in Jan 2016 and launch in 2018

EDIT: Just out of interest. There is this Cubesat mission collaboration between NASA and Kari
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-engineer-awaits-launch-of-cubesat-mission-demonstrating-virtual-telescope-tech

KARI providing spacecraft, Goddard experiments, launch on SpaceX

EDIT2: Further guess. The spacecraft will be based on KOMPSAT, the payload masses seem similar:

https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/k/kompsat-5
« Last Edit: 04/02/2016 04:17 pm by savuporo »
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Offline ImpMK

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #24 on: 04/03/2016 06:52 am »
EDIT2: Further guess. The spacecraft will be based on KOMPSAT, the payload masses seem similar:

https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/k/kompsat-5

The launch mass of KPLO will be about 550 kg, and its mass budget for scientific payloads is expected to be about 60-70 kg. But the launch mass of KOMPSAT-5 is 1,315 kg...

Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #25 on: 09/12/2016 02:41 am »
http://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/salmon-2-opportunity-for-korea-pathfinder-lunar-orbiter-kplo-instruments/
Quote
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) Advanced Explorations Systems (AES) Division anticipates making opportunities available for a limited number of instruments to be Ride Share Payloads on the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO).

Supported by their National Policy plan, the Republic of South Korea, through the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), has created a goal to robotically explore the moon and has established a lunar program called Korea Lunar Exploration Program (KLEP). KARI intends on launching KPLO followed by a lunar lander including a lunar surface rover, and another orbiter by 2020. The first mission would be the launch of the KPLO in December 2018 on a technology demonstration and science mission into lunar orbit. KARI is in partnership with NASA to provide ride share for NASA-sponsored payloads on the KPLO mission.
..

Who came up with the backronym for this ..

EDIT: also
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.2016-2419
The Lunar Space Communications Architecture From The KARI-NASA Joint Study
Includes this nice table of upcoming lunar missions, below.

More, a CubeSat impartor is being considered as one of the payloads

Two other papers, funded by KPLO activities, over last few months:

http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.2016-2311
Preliminary Design of LUDOLP: the Flight Dynamics Subsystem for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Mission

http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.2016-2603
Conceptual Design and Implementation of an Integrated  Database for Automatic State Synchronization between  Spacecraft and Simulator

« Last Edit: 09/12/2016 03:20 am by savuporo »
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Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #26 on: 01/17/2017 04:21 am »
A lot of KPLO related briefs in here

An Introduction to Mission Concept of Operations of KPLO
Quote
KPLO is the first mission of the Korean lunar exploration program. The mission objectives of the KPLO are 1) development of key technologies for lunar exploration, 2) scientific investigation of the Moon and lunar environment, and 3) realization and validation of new space technology. The mission concept of operations of KPLO is the key system-level design to provide various mission concepts, spacecraft description, instruments overview, and preliminary operations concepts for the KPLO mission. In this research, the operation concepts of recent foreign lunar orbiters are explained briefly. And then, System architecture, instruments overview, trajectory overview, and mission phases overview of KPLO are described compared to the foreign lunar missions. Each mission phase include operational concepts of KPLO. Mission concept of operations of KPLO is not defined yet, but it will be updated and matured concurrently with the system design.

Also, NASA hosted KPLO proposals were due in Nov 18

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?method=init&solId={AF44B73B-7DBF-5540-1793-4C5491CFFE7C}&path=init
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #27 on: 03/14/2017 05:56 am »
KSLV-2 75-ton engine 145 second test fire,  Nov 29, 2016



Same thing from the business end:
« Last Edit: 03/14/2017 05:57 am by savuporo »
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Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #28 on: 03/14/2017 06:01 am »
Propellant tanks of engineering model of KSLV being integrated

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Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #29 on: 03/14/2017 06:48 am »
Also, the videos above are actually from May 4th, 2016 according to this more recent update

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2016/12/22/0200000000AEN20161222008200320.html

Dec 22, 2016
Quote
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's planned test-launch of its homegrown engine for a space rocket was delayed by 10 months to late 2018, because more time is needed to address some technical glitches, officials said Thursday.

The delay was formally endorsed at a meeting of space-related officials earlier in the day, said the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

South Korea had previously planned to test-launch the 75-ton engine in December next year, but the test is now expected to be launched in October 2018, ministry officials said.

As part of a long-term project to produce an indigenous three-stage KSLV-2 rocket, the government had pushed for the development of a two-stage test rocket by the end of 2017. But, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said in a report earlier this year that it will have to delay the test-launch by about 10 months, citing a problem in the combustion of the engine and more trouble in the welding of a fuel tank.

 South Korea aims to launch a moon orbiter as early as 2020.

"If a test-launch of the 75-ton engine fails or technical problems are found, it will take more time to build the three-stage KSLV-2 rocket," said Bae Tae-min, a senior official at the ministry's large-scale public research policy division.

Bae indicated that the timeframe for developing a homegrown space rocket could be affected, depending on the result of the test-launch.

EDIT: Nah, pic in the article was from May 4th, the full duration burn apparently still from later date, as per:
http://spaceflight101.com/south-korea-advances-rocket-engine-development-testing-for-kslv-ii-rocket/
« Last Edit: 03/14/2017 06:52 am by savuporo »
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Offline savuporo

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #30 on: 04/08/2017 07:27 am »
75-ton engine TVC test



Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #31 on: 03/02/2018 06:48 am »
Recent developments on the KSLV-2!

http://businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/national/20467-korean-space-launch-vehicle-launch-kslv-postponed-2021

While it's called a postponement, the development timeline is actually going back to what it was originally. The previous (and impeached) president pushed the schedule too much. So now the schedule is:

- Test vehicle (single stage, 1x75Ton engine) launch: October 2018
- First launch: February 2021
- Second launch: October 2021

I think it's now a much more realistic goal. Same goes to the lunar lander project, which has now been delayed to 2030.


For those interested, you can see the video coverage of the aforementioned KSLV-2 test vehicle assembly in this news clip:

http://news.kbs.co.kr/news/view.do?ncd=3607352



It mentions the successful launch of Falcon Heavy because KARI is following the model of the SpaceX rockets - specifically, bundling multiple medium-power engines.
« Last Edit: 03/05/2018 07:20 am by wesley »

Offline AncientU

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #32 on: 03/14/2018 12:21 pm »
New reusable launch vehicle:
Quote
S. Korea to develop reusable space launch vehicle
Quote
South Korea will push forward with an ambitious plan to develop a reusable space launch vehicle as the country strives to become a global powerhouse in the aerospace industry, the chief of the country's aerospace institute said Wednesday.

Recently, SpaceX, spearheaded by millionaire Elon Musk, successfully launched and landed the partially reusable rockets.

Up until now, practically all orbital rockets were disposable, meaning the rockets were thrown away after being launched into space.

"Rockets are reused in cases like SpaceX," Lim Cheol-ho, director of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), told reporters in Seoul. "KARI is currently in the process of mapping out a basic plan for a similar rocket."
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2018/03/14/0200000000AEN20180314009200320.html
"If we shared everything [we are working on] people would think we are insane!"
-- SpaceX friend of mlindner

Offline wesley

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #33 on: 03/28/2018 12:06 am »
220-second test firing of the KARI 75-Ton engine:



The duration is about 75 seconds longer than the nominal burn time for the engine when it's used in the second stage of the KSLV-2.

Offline noogie

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #34 on: 06/03/2018 03:32 am »
New reusable launch vehicle:


Interestingly enough, with their engine and the confirmed buy in of reuse from top management, I think that they are the furthest non US player along in reuse.

Here's why I think they are in a good position regarding developing a reusable rocket program

- They aren't encumbered by legacy requirements - solid boosters that hold back Europe, ULA and India for reuse are not an issue for them

- The fall through of the Russian engine and need to develop their current engine may well have been a blessing in disguise. It gives them an engine of the right size for reuse. That they designed it themselves from scratch also puts them in a better position to ensure or add necessary features for reuse (multiple air restarts, throttability, etc)

- They aren't encumbered by the "political overhead" of needing to spread work around important nations/states like Europe and SLS are. Their political requirement is that the Chaebols get the work but that isn't much of an issue as there are probably no players outside of the Chaebols in South Korea that could do the work anyway  :)

- Russia and the countries that acquired the oxygen rich staged combustion (ORSC) technology from the former soviet countries (China and India) are actually at a disadvantage regarding reuse. The engine is too big (unless they want to create a mega rocket) and doesn't have the ability to throttle enough or do multiple air restarts that you want for reuse.
China and India especially are now in the delicate position of just having spent a huge amount of resources making rocket systems around these engines and now having to rework or redo them for reuse.

In all I think that South Korea are in a position to do in reusable rockets, with their Falcon 9 resembling rocket  what Samsung did with the smart phone market :P
« Last Edit: 06/03/2018 03:50 am by noogie »

Offline K210

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #35 on: 06/03/2018 04:57 am »
Quote
(China and India) are actually at a disadvantage regarding reuse. The engine is too big (unless they want to create a mega rocket) and doesn't have the ability to throttle enough or do multiple air restarts that you want for reuse.
China and India especially are now in the delicate position of just having spent a huge amount of resources making rocket systems around these engines and now having to rework or redo them for reuse.

Neither china nor india have any intention of reworking their rockets powered by ORSC technology. Both china and india will only use their ORSC based engines on heavy lift vehicles such as the Long March 5 and GSLV MK-3. Vehicles of this class have very low launch frequency and have very niche payloads so reusability really does not make sense. 

Besides the chinese and indian space programs are not as commercialised as western space programs. The vast majority of payloads that fly on Indian/Chinese rockets are property of their respective governments.
« Last Edit: 06/03/2018 04:58 am by K210 »

Offline noogie

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #36 on: 06/03/2018 05:45 am »

Neither china nor india have any intention of reworking their rockets powered by ORSC technology. Both china and india will only use their ORSC based engines on heavy lift vehicles such as the Long March 5 and GSLV MK-3. Vehicles of this class have very low launch frequency and have very niche payloads so reusability really does not make sense. 


China have based nearly all of their future rockets (all their liquid ones at any rate) on the ORSC engines, including the smaller Long Marches 6-8. With Long March 8, they are looking at experimenting with reuse by keeping the side boosters still attached on landing to increase the weight since they can't throttle down enough.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=8447.440
This looks like a kludge to get something up to learn about learning landing the booster while they come up with a longer term solution (probably more smaller more throttlable engine or combination of YF-100 and a cluster of sea level YF-115s modified as landing engines) on the booster.
To me that looks to be in a worse position WRT reuse than the South Koreans. I'm sure they will get there - but it will take longer and be more expensive than with what the Koreans have at hand.

Quote
Besides the chinese and indian space programs are not as commercialised as western space programs. The vast majority of payloads that fly on Indian/Chinese rockets are property of their respective governments.

They may have a lot of funding with state backing but it's not unlimited.
If reuse really does bring the costs substantially down (as is looking increasingly likely), it will leave them at a substantial disadvantage. There are opportunity costs that state actors are not immune to either.
Being shackled to a an overly expensive launcher also has knock on effects downstream - as we saw with NASA and the US DoD having to cancel otherwise worthwhile projects as they were stuck with the prohibitively expensive shuttle and Titan IV for heavy lift in the 1990s.

I think the South Koreans have lucked into a good position for reuse. With sensible leadership, I think they are ahead of everyone except SpaceX and Blue Origin.
« Last Edit: 06/03/2018 06:17 am by noogie »

Offline K210

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #37 on: 06/03/2018 08:28 am »
Quote
With Long March 8, they are looking at experimenting with reuse by keeping the side boosters still attached on landing to increase the weight since they can't throttle down enough.

A lot of countries are experimenting with reusability technology but few are adopting it. India also has a VVTL demonstrator in the works while europe has adeline. Point being that VVTL reusability is far from proven at this point so one can not really say what the future of reusability looks like.

The whole concept of reusable rockets only makes sense if there is a mass market to provide payloads which simply does not look like it will exist in the near future. Spacex have already had several delays this year due to the vehicle being ready before its payload.

In my personal opinion i think the future of reusable rockets will be SSTO (single stage to orbit) based. Numerous countries are working on scramjet technology that has demonstrated ability to lower costs significantly.

Offline noogie

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #38 on: 06/03/2018 10:07 am »
Quote
With Long March 8, they are looking at experimenting with reuse by keeping the side boosters still attached on landing to increase the weight since they can't throttle down enough.

A lot of countries are experimenting with reusability technology but few are adopting it. India also has a VVTL demonstrator in the works while europe has adeline. Point being that VVTL reusability is far from proven at this point so one can not really say what the future of reusability looks like.


I would argue that we are close to proving it and that the South Koreans look like they are following it ::)
This is straying off topic and I'm not going to add to this any further

Offline Patchouli

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #39 on: 06/04/2018 08:10 pm »
KARI 75 is supposedly inspired by Merlin 1D though I'm not sure how deeply it can throttle.

I'm not sure if they plan on doing VTOL but Spacex style RTLS booster recovery would be a good match for their needs.

Offline Kryten

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #40 on: 06/08/2018 06:30 am »

KSLV-2 pilot vehicle static test.

Offline Tywin

Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #41 on: 01/25/2019 06:56 pm »
Interesting PDF, about the future of the South Korea space program, with mission to Mars for the next decade too...




https://www.stepi.re.kr/module/seminaDownFile.jsp?cmsCd=CM0038&ntNo=27174&sbNo=5&fileFlag=spk
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Offline Closer to Space

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #42 on: 01/19/2020 10:24 pm »
The test model of the KSLV-2 is being manufactured.

https://twitter.com/kari2030/status/1218740115540860928

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #43 on: 01/20/2020 07:07 am »
The test model of the KSLV-2 is being manufactured.
Google translate, without the #s:
Quote
Korean launch vehicle Nuri 1st stage system development model (EM) assembly site disclosure🚀

Nuri 1st stage diameter is 3.6m, larger than Naro 1st stage (diameter 2.9m), Naro 1st stage has one engine The Nuri 1st Stage contains four 75t engines.
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Offline Lucid Nonsense

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #44 on: 04/06/2020 08:47 am »
Just an update.

Testing of the QM (Qualification Model) of the 3rd stage of KSLV-2 has been completed.
https://twitter.com/kari2030/status/1224849745719357440

The QM of the full launcher is being prepared and will be tested (on the ground) in tandem with the new launch pad when its construction is also finished. The manufacturing of the FM (Flight Model) is also progressing.

Further news is that preliminary research is starting for a smallsat launcher. It will have 2 stages. The first stage will use the already developed Kerolox engine from the KSLV-2. The second stage engine is interestingly planned to be of a new design. Instead of using the 3rd stage engine from KSLV-2, it will be a restartable Methalox engine with roughly half the thrust.

https://www.etnews.com/20200406000129

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You want to be inspired by things. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. That's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and believing the future will be better than the past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than being out there among the stars.

Offline Zed_Noir

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #46 on: 08/08/2020 10:54 am »
http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=293970

Eric Berger have a mention of the Korean Times article in this weeks Rocket Report.

Quote from: Arstechnica Rocket Report for 08/07/2020
South Korea mulls exiting its own launch program. South Korean defense industry analysts say the nation would have difficulty competing with other countries in the launch industry, which can provide more advanced technologies and services at lower prices with their already established space-industry infrastructure. "Even if South Korea develops its own rockets, they would not be able to excel more than aerospace giants like SpaceX in terms of technology," said Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, in The Korea Times.

Ten times the cost ... The country's space institute, KARI, has developed several small-satellite rockets, but these are not competitive with SpaceX's Falcon 9, which recently launched South Korea's first military communications satellite, ANASIS-II. "The costs spent by the South Korean government to develop the two rockets were 10 times higher than those spent by SpaceX," Kim Seung-jo, former president of KARI, said. "But the South Korean government's outcomes in its rocket projects were far behind the Falcon 9 rocket produced by SpaceX."
Ars Technica Rocket Report

Offline eeergo

Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #47 on: 12/02/2020 09:21 am »
Flight model has been completed, and static firing is next.

https://twitter.com/Kor_Spaceflight/status/1333924451201605632
-DaviD-

Offline Lucid Nonsense

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #48 on: 01/17/2021 08:06 am »


An interesting video outlining some of the efforts to Merlin 1D-ify the current KRE-75 engine.

Their plan is to increase combustion pressures from 60 bar to 100 bar.

There has also been the adoption of 3d printing technologies to create complex structures within the baffle injectors that cannot be manufactured with traditional techniques. This is to combat combustion instability that will arise due to greater performance. This is accompanied by interesting imagines of an injector face with 3 radial baffle injectors. I bet this is just for the scaled-down model that is currently being tested and not the actual design of the actual KRE-75+.

And the last performance figure is that while the Vac. ISP of the current (first-stage) KRE-75 is 299s, the improved version will hopefully increase that to 312s.

All in all, it sounds promising. Previously KARI struggled with combustion instability to get the KRE-75 where it is currently and hopefully they can overcome it for this increased thrust variant. Would be nice to see somewhat Merlin 1D like performance possible with a more typical face injector instead of the pintle injector of the Merlins.

Albeit I doubt this engine will ever be as lightweight and thus have the amazing T/W ratio the Merlin 1D does, even though mass improvements are another goal that KARI professes to have in improving the KRE-75.

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Offline starbase

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #50 on: 07/25/2021 09:03 am »
Quote
South Korea's top flag carrier Korean Air will follow the footsteps of Virgin Orbit, a California-based company that provides launch services for small satellites, to analyze the possibility of launching space rockets using civilian aircraft. The development of a projectile launched in the air is possible after Washington lifted restrictions on South Korea's missile development in May.

LauncherOne is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed by Virgin Orbit that began operational flights in 2021. It is an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat payloads of up to 300 kilograms following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. The rocket is carried to the upper atmosphere on a modified Boeing 747-400 and released over the Pacific Ocean.

In a military project ordered by the airforce space agency, Korean Air (KAL) and a research team from Seoul National University will analyze technical levels, major application technologies, operating costs, remodeling measures for the development of an orbital launch vehicle using a Boeing 747-400 civilian plane.

Korean Air said South Korea can overcome geographical limitations in launching space rockets. The air launch of projectiles can reduce the cost of building and maintaining a separate launch site. "The development of aerial launch unaffected by weather and geographical requirements is essential to attract the rapidly increasing demand for small satellite launches worldwide," an unnamed KAL official said in a statement on July 20.

South Korea's airforce has launched the "Space Odyssey" project to have a space monitoring system by 2030, launch satellites from the air using transport planes by 2040, and have deterrence capabilities against the threat of space weapons by 2050. South Korea hopes to develop technologies to track and identify space objects and satellites with lasers. The role of anti-satellite weapons includes defensive measures against space-based, nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

In May, the defense ministry unveiled a long-term goal to develop platforms for the launch of space rockets using aircraft or at sea. Most launch vehicles take off from sites on land. The advantages of an air-based launch are flexibility in the launch location and the use of a carrier aircraft that could reduce propulsion requirements needed to reach orbit.

South Korea has disclosed the goal of producing small low-orbit satellites weighing under 100 kilograms in a space program led by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). South Korea's space program has seen slow progress as other countries are reluctant to transfer core technologies. Three space rockets have been launched but two fired in 2009 and 2010 failed to reach orbit.

Source: https://www.ajudaily.com/view/20210720113859582
bit.ly/SpaceLaunchCalendar ☆ bit.ly/SpaceEventCalendar

Offline Vahe231991

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #51 on: 07/28/2021 01:27 am »
Quote
South Korea's top flag carrier Korean Air will follow the footsteps of Virgin Orbit, a California-based company that provides launch services for small satellites, to analyze the possibility of launching space rockets using civilian aircraft. The development of a projectile launched in the air is possible after Washington lifted restrictions on South Korea's missile development in May.

LauncherOne is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed by Virgin Orbit that began operational flights in 2021. It is an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat payloads of up to 300 kilograms following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. The rocket is carried to the upper atmosphere on a modified Boeing 747-400 and released over the Pacific Ocean.

In a military project ordered by the airforce space agency, Korean Air (KAL) and a research team from Seoul National University will analyze technical levels, major application technologies, operating costs, remodeling measures for the development of an orbital launch vehicle using a Boeing 747-400 civilian plane.

Korean Air said South Korea can overcome geographical limitations in launching space rockets. The air launch of projectiles can reduce the cost of building and maintaining a separate launch site. "The development of aerial launch unaffected by weather and geographical requirements is essential to attract the rapidly increasing demand for small satellite launches worldwide," an unnamed KAL official said in a statement on July 20.

South Korea's airforce has launched the "Space Odyssey" project to have a space monitoring system by 2030, launch satellites from the air using transport planes by 2040, and have deterrence capabilities against the threat of space weapons by 2050. South Korea hopes to develop technologies to track and identify space objects and satellites with lasers. The role of anti-satellite weapons includes defensive measures against space-based, nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

In May, the defense ministry unveiled a long-term goal to develop platforms for the launch of space rockets using aircraft or at sea. Most launch vehicles take off from sites on land. The advantages of an air-based launch are flexibility in the launch location and the use of a carrier aircraft that could reduce propulsion requirements needed to reach orbit.

South Korea has disclosed the goal of producing small low-orbit satellites weighing under 100 kilograms in a space program led by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). South Korea's space program has seen slow progress as other countries are reluctant to transfer core technologies. Three space rockets have been launched but two fired in 2009 and 2010 failed to reach orbit.

Source: https://www.ajudaily.com/view/20210720113859582
It's possible that KARI could finance development of an air-launched version of the Hyunmoo-3 cruise missile?
« Last Edit: 06/22/2022 01:11 am by Vahe231991 »

Offline Yiosie

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #52 on: 09/08/2021 10:35 pm »
South Korea to spend $593 million on public-to-private transfer of rocket technologies

Quote from: SpaceNews
SEOUL, South Korea – Starting next year, South Korea’s government will transfer state-owned space launch vehicle technologies to domestic aerospace companies in a move to help them penetrate an expanding global space launch market. To that end, the government will spend 687 billion won ($593 million) from 2022 through 2027, said the Ministry of Science and ICT, Sept. 7.

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) — a state-run space technology developer that has played a central role in developing the nation’s first domestic space launch vehicle, KSLV-2 — will be responsible for the public-to-private transfer, according to the ministry. KSLV-2, nicknamed Nuri, is a three-stage liquid-propellant rocket capable of sending a 1.5-ton satellite into low Earth orbit. The rocket is set to make its first demonstration flight in October from Naro Space Center in Goheung, the only launch site in South Korea.

<snip>

While the science ministry didn’t  identify the companies that would benefit from the latest tech transfer, the most likely beneficiaries include Hanwha Aerospace, Innospace, Perigee Aerospace and Korean Air.

Hanwha is a major rocket engine developer here, which contributed to KSLV-2’s development with engine assembly and supply of key components. Innospace is a hybrid rocket startup, and Perigee is developing a methane-fueled smallsat launcher. Korea Air, South Korea’s biggest airline, is developing technologies to launch small satellites from its Boeing 747-400 cargo planes — the same way Virgin Orbit launches customers’ satellites into orbit.

Offline Yiosie

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #53 on: 09/14/2021 10:23 pm »
Lots of South Korean space news in the last few months!

South Korea’s GNSS project to take off with $3.3 billion budget

Quote
South Korea has set off on a journey to build its own satellite navigation system, in cooperation with the United States, by 2035 to provide more accurate and reliable position, navigation and timing information across the country.

Named “ Korea Positioning System” (KPS), the project cleared the government’s budget feasibility study June 25, taking one step closer to winning the proposed budget of 3.72 trillion won ($3.3 billion) by the Ministry of Science and ICT, which has pushed forward with the project since 2018. If the budget is approved by the National Assembly, the ministry will begin initial work next year to establish KPS by 2035 by launching eight new satellites — three satellites into geosynchronous orbit and five into inclined geosynchronous orbit. The first satellite for KPS will be launched in 2027, with a trial service scheduled for 2034 and a full-fledged one the following year, according to the ministry.

South Korea seeks $553 million space budget for 2022

Quote
While the country is set to launch its first domestically developed space launch vehicle KSLV-2 — a three-stage liquid-propellant rocket capable of hauling up to 1,500 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit — in October, it has already set off on a journey to develop bigger and more powerful rocket. The 172.8 billion won is a fraction of the 700 billion won South Korea is planning to invest for the rollout of a next-generation space launch vehicle by 2026, according to the document.

“We are planning to develop a next-generation launch vehicle based upon KSLV-2, capable of launching our [robotic] lunar orbiter on our own,”
said Kwon Hyun-joon, a senior official of the Space, Nuclear and Big Science Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, in June. “There is another idea under consideration: making a more innovative model, for which we need to do everything from scratch.” 

Another major space project, for which the government set aside 84.5 billion won next year, is establishing South Korea’s own satellite navigation system, called Korea Positioning System (KPS). The project will begin next year and take 13 years to complete, during which the government will spend a total of 3.7 trillion won launching eight satellites — three satellites into geosynchronous orbit and five into inclined geosynchronous orbit.

Launching the nation’s first robotic lunar orbiter, called Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), is another main project, for which the government is planning to invest 19.8 billion won. The spacecraft is set to launch in August 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to image the moon for one year. NASA provided an advanced lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera, nicknamed ShadowCam, to the orbiter in a show of support. In return, the KPLO will be assigned work for NASA’s moon mission identifying areas with water.

The government said KPLO’s launch will “fulfill South Korea’s role as a major partner of the Artemis Program and enhance the bilateral cooperation in space.”

Korea Positioning System (KPS) news in red, next-generation launch vehicle news in blue, and KPLO news in green.

Offline Yiosie

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #54 on: 11/12/2021 10:32 pm »
South Korea to develop reusable rocket with 100-ton thrust engines [dated Nov. 11]

Quote
Starting next year, South Korea will develop a reusable rocket with a cluster of liquid-fueled 100-ton thrust engines. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) will be responsible for its development, though a concrete timetable and other details of the mission are up in the air.

A ruling party lawmaker announced the plan Nov. 10 after a meeting attended by Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hye-sook and members of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting and Communications Committee.

“Starting next year, the development of a high-performance reusable rocket with liquid-fueled 100-ton thrust engines will begin,” said Rep. Cho Seung-rae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who represents the committee. “Having such a liquid-fueled high-performance rocket engine is necessary [for South Korea] to successfully fulfill the missions of launching a [robotic] lunar lander by 2030 and building the Korea Positioning System by 2035 on its own.”

<snip>

The plan to develop a reusable rocket came as a surprise because “reusability” was nowhere to be seen in the government’s budget request for 2022 — in which South Korea’s next-generation rocket was supposed to be a single-use model that is “bigger and more powerful” than KSLV-2, a three-stage rocket launched Oct. 21 with four KRE-075 engines in its first-stage booster.

Cho didn’t explain what caused the change. He also didn’t clarify if the planned reusable rocket will be designated as the nation’s next-generation launch vehicle, or if it will be developed along with an advanced expendable rocket. The lawmaker said this issue, along with others meant to promote the domestic space industry, will be discussed during a Nov. 15 meeting at the National Space Council, the top decision-making government body on space issues under the Prime Minister.

Offline Asteroza

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #55 on: 12/02/2021 11:08 pm »
Some sort of VLEO EO sat in development, via SatRec Initiative? Sorta similar to SLATS and GOCE.

https://www.sedaily.com/NewsVIew/22TYOXE1GY

https://twitter.com/arrow_cf/status/1461340357992402950

https://www.satreci.com/korean/sub0401


There was a US military AFWERX contract in 2020 for a similar winged shuttlecock style EO sat from

https://www.earthobservant.com/

Offline PM3

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #56 on: 12/26/2021 05:25 pm »
And another new Korean rocket, announced on December 6:

Quote from: Babelfish
Hanwha Aerospace, an affiliate of Hanwha Group's defense industry, announced on the 6th that it would promote the project of 'concept design and development of a small launch vehicle system' together with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (Aerospace Research Institute). On the 2nd, the company also reviewed the design of the small launch vehicle (pictured) with the anti-accident.

A small launch vehicle refers to a launch vehicle capable of launching a small satellite with a size of 500 kg into space. Hanwha Aerospace signed a main business contract with Hangwoon in May, and plans to complete the projectile concept design by March next year.

Hanwha Aerospace explained that it was able to continue this small launch vehicle project by being recognized for the technology verified in the previous Nuri project. The company has previously produced a 75-ton liquid rocket that can be called the “heart of the Nuri.”

https://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20211207022011
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Offline Yiosie

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #57 on: 08/30/2022 07:06 pm »
South Korea seeks $459 million for lunar lander project [dated Aug. 30]

Quote from: SpaceNews
South Korea seeks a $459 million budget to build a 1.8-ton robotic lunar lander, which it wants to send to the moon in 2031 for a one-year mission on the nation’s next-generation carrier rocket under development.

<snip>

According to the presentation, KARI seeks 618.4 billion won ($459 million) to build the lander and payload in collaboration with domestic institutes, universities and companies as part of an effort to nurture the nascent domestic space industry. Aboard the lander would be a 13-kilogram detector of volatile substances in the regolith, a 27-kilogram autonomous navigation system for the lander’s soft-landing on the moon, a 0.75-kilogram nuclear power generator, and a 15-kilogram rover. The rover could carry a 5-kilogram payload: an electron gun designed to image and analyze lunar dust, and a high-resolution camera.

The octangle lander with four fixed landing gears would carry 1,210 kilograms of fuel and maneuver with three 420-newton thrusters, six 220-newton thrusters, and sixteen 20-newton engines for attitude control. While solar panels will be installed on the lander’s top and side, the rover’s deployment platform will be installed on one side of the lander. The presentation didn’t identify organizations that would participate in the project.

“If everything goes as planned, the development will begin in 2024 and continue through 2031,” said Cheon Yee-jin, a principal researcher at KARI, in the presentation live streamed online. “It will launch in 2031 and operate on the lunar surface for one year.”

Offline Mahurora

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #58 on: 12/12/2022 01:02 am »
https://www.khan.co.kr/science/aerospace/article/202211291730001

Development program of the next generation rocket, dubbed the KSLV-3 has passed the preliminary feasibility review. This signals a go sign for the development program that will span a decade. Under current plan, first flight model will be manufactured starting 2028 until 2030 and launched in December 2030. This will be followed by a second launcher in 2031 and third in 2032. The payload for each launchers are as follows: First launcher will be launched with a lunar orbit satellite for performance verification. Second launcher will be launched to the moon with a lunar landing verification vehicle called the PFM (Proto-Flight Model) and the third with actual Korea Lunar Lander and Rover.

KSLV-3 consists of 2 stages. The first stage will be powered by five 100t metalox SCC engines whereas the second stage will be powered by two 10t metalox SCC engines. Both the first and second stage will be able to throttle from 100% all the way down to 40% maximum thrust and will be able to reignite multiple times. Reignition capabilities of the first stage is going to be developed with future reusable SLV in mind.

« Last Edit: 12/12/2022 01:03 am by Mahurora »

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Offline nicp

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #60 on: 05/25/2023 02:23 pm »
The Wikipedia article on the Nuri rocket says it uses Jet-A / LOX.
Can that be right?
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Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #61 on: 05/27/2023 03:51 am »
The Wikipedia article on the Nuri rocket says it uses Jet-A / LOX.
Can that be right?

KARI only says they use "kerosene". No mention is made of Jet-A being used.

https://www.kari.re.kr/eng/sub03_04_01.do
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Offline Vahe231991

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #62 on: 05/27/2023 02:37 pm »
The Wikipedia article on the Nuri rocket says it uses Jet-A / LOX.
Can that be right?
I just checked Wikipedia and found out that Jet A and Jet A-1 are kerosene-type fuels. This link also states that Jet A and Jet-A are forms of kerosene:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/05/third-nuri-flight/

Offline nicp

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #63 on: 05/27/2023 04:04 pm »
Yes, Jet-A is standard jet fuel, which is similar to kerosene.
But I thought its imprecise density and variable hydrocarbon content and sulphur content made it impractical for rocket engines.
« Last Edit: 05/27/2023 04:05 pm by nicp »
For Vectron!

Offline Mahurora

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #64 on: 06/09/2023 12:29 pm »
Near-future Korean SLV fleet. From "4th term Space Development Promotion Plan" by Korean government, Dec. 2022.

Offline Mahurora

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #65 on: 06/09/2023 12:30 pm »
Projects and their schedules under 4th Term Space Development Promotion Plan
« Last Edit: 06/09/2023 12:30 pm by Mahurora »

Offline Mahurora

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #66 on: 06/09/2023 12:42 pm »
LSP schedule for each KSLV types.

Online Galactic Penguin SST

Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #67 on: 06/09/2023 01:45 pm »
Projects and their schedules under 4th Term Space Development Promotion Plan

Do you have any info about the 500 kg/1000 kg SSO solid fuel launch vehicle planned for 2025 launch? Never saw anything about it except for a test launch of the upper stages last year.
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

Offline Mahurora

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #68 on: 06/09/2023 02:10 pm »
Projects and their schedules under 4th Term Space Development Promotion Plan

Do you have any info about the 500 kg/1000 kg SSO solid fuel launch vehicle planned for 2025 launch? Never saw anything about it except for a test launch of the upper stages last year.
Not much really. Like I've wrote on the small ROK launcher thread, it is a MoD project under ADD, as opposed to other Korean SLVs which are KARI programs. I'll write what I know on that thread.
« Last Edit: 03/09/2024 02:42 pm by Mahurora »

Offline Mahurora

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #69 on: 03/09/2024 02:54 pm »
I've missed on it, but it seems like there's a government programme to support private sector commercial launch vehicle development efforts. Named Small LV Development Capabilities Support Programme, Korean government has contracted 3 private sector companies, namely Perigee, Innospace and Korean Air to develop 3tf class upper-sectiong vacuum engine. Programme continues until 2027 and is divided in 3 phases.

2 candidates will be chosen based on SDR and PDR results by the end of the first phase and contine into second stage which will see CDR and core components prototyping. Based on the performance of the two candidates, a final awardee will be chosen to develop a QM engine prototype. This engine will also be used for the KARI Small LV under development. This "Small LV" programme is separate from the small launcher mentioned in 4th Term Space Development Promotion Plan, and is a civilian programme. It will be 2 staged as opposed to 4 staged GYUB (3 stages and a kick motor stage) and will be powered by KRE-75 derived engine in the first stage. Payload capabilities of these two LVs is very similar (500kg to 500km SSO)

So the winner of this programme will have an advantage that they would be able to use common upper stage engine that powers their own LV as well as the KARI Small LV.

Apart from Small LV Development Capabilities Support Program, a separate programme named Space Pioneer Programme exists, which will support private sector development of common modular avionics, propellant tank and umbillical, which could be used by private sector commercial launcher developers, including the 3 afforementioned companies.
« Last Edit: 03/09/2024 04:18 pm by Mahurora »

Offline Mahurora

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Re: South Korean space developments
« Reply #70 on: 03/09/2024 04:01 pm »
New private sector launch pad to be built in Naro Space Centre. With it, there'll be two launch options from Korea (NSC and sea launch off shore of Jeju Island)

 

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