SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Russia will meet for a formal review to determine why a jointly developed space rocket failed to place a satellite into orbit, officials in Seoul said Monday.
The failure review meeting (FRB), to be held in Moscow on Oct. 29, is expected to shed light on why one of the two fairings did not separate from the top of the second stage rocket after launching from South Korea's Naro Space Center on Aug. 25, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.
 |
The 140-ton Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) blasted off without a glitch but the extra weight caused by the fairing made it impossible for the satellite to reach proper orbital velocity. The malfunction likely caused the small scientific satellite to fall back to the Earth shortly after takeoff.
The first stage rocket of the KSLV-1 was made in Russia, while the second stage rocket including the fairing assembly and the satellite was manufactured in South Korea.
Both South Korean and Russian engineers are expected to conduct simulations this week that reflect actual launch conditions on a duplicate model of the nose fairing to see why the covers did not fall off.
Seoul said the rocket launch was only partly successful, while Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center claimed it was a success as the main booster rocket functioned properly.
Government policymakers have said they are waiting for a verdict from the meeting but hinted that an exact cause may never be known.
"Judging by past experience, it may actually be very hard to determine why the launch was not a complete success since it involves fairings," an official source said.
He pointed out that similar probes involving faulty fairing systems in other countries failed to determine an exact cause.
The ministry in charge of the country's space development program, meanwhile, said that efforts are underway to prepare for the second launch of the KSLV-1 rocket in May 2010.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
