Future of space rocket (South Korean rocket exploded on launch)

Future of space rocket

Failure is stepping stone to success

Korea suffered another setback in its ambitious space rocket program since its first aborted bid to put its scientific research satellite into orbit last August. On Thursday, the second blastoff of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-I) ended in failure with an explosion after 137.19 seconds.

The higher the people's expectations were, the greater their disappointment became. But they soon had to reconcile with the grim reality that Korea still has a long way to go to realize its space dream. The country currently lacks expertise and technology to launch a space rocket.

That's why the nation has teamed up with Russia to experiment with its first space rocket since 2004. It paid 250 billion won ($200 million) to the Russian side for the 800-billion-won project, which called for the world's space power to make the main, first-stage while Korea assembled the second-stage and satellite.

The big-budget project is not merely a matter of money but also a symbol of Korea's pride and its challenging spirit. Thus, the second failure is certainly frustrating to the public as well as scientists, engineers and officials who had worked hard to produce successful results. But now, we don't have much time to spend crying over spilled milk. What's for sure is that Korea can never give up its dream toward space.

Now, the first thing is to find the exact cause of the midair explosion of the rocket. The first indications suggest a failure of the main RD-151 rocket engine developed by Russia's NPO Energomash. Determining the cause is important as it will dictate the future course of the project. But it is not easy for Korean engineers to actively participate in investigations into the explosion because the Russian side has monopolized all the data on the main rocket.

If Russia is found to be responsible for the failure, it would be obliged to accept Korea's demand for a third rocket. Under the agreement with the Russian side, Korea may ask for a third launch if the first two rockets fail to place a satellite into orbit. But it is not mandatory for Russia to automatically provide another space launch vehicle to Korea.

The first launch of the KSLV-I, or better known as the Naro-1 space rocket, was described as a ``half success" because the rocket reached orbit with both first- and second-stage rockets functioning without a glitch. But, the malfunctioning of the fairing assembly system for the 100kg satellite was attributed to the failure. In the second launch, the Korean researchers even had no chance of testing their second-stage rocket and satellite.

Korea should draw a lesson from the two rocket launches that it should develop its own technology to put together all the parts of the launch vehicle. The nation cannot join the group of the world's 10 space powers without achieving technology independence. We hope that the country will use its failure as a stepping stone to success.