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| Korea's homegrown space rocket Nuri is erected for launch at Naro Space Center in Goheung, 328 kilometers south of Seoul, in this photo provided by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, May 25. Yonhap |
Korea is fully ready to launch its homegrown space rocket Nuri later in the day after solving a computer glitch.
Aerospace engineers completed the fuel and oxidizer injection into the rocket around 5:15 p.m., and the prelaunch operation, or an automatic system that oversees the final preflight checkouts, will begin 10 minutes before liftoff, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).
The launch will take place at 6:24 p.m. at Naro Space Center in the southern coastal village of Goheung.
On Wednesday, the launch was called off due to a communications problem between a launch control computer and a launch pad facility control computer about three hours before liftoff.
The launch management committee, which oversees the entire process, decided to go ahead with the launch Thursday after engineers had inspected the system overnight and fixed the problem.
"During the overnight examination, engineers found out the defect in a helium tank facility of the launch pad and revised its control program," Vice Science Minister Oh Tae-seog said in a press briefing. "We've repeated tests and checked the system is working well."
The ministry and KARI said no other technical problems have been detected, and the weather is favorable and all payload satellites are in good condition.
It is not the first time that Nuri's launch has been postponed due to technical issues.
In June last year, Korea delayed its second launch for five days due to a technical glitch in the rocket's oxidizer tank sensor.
After the postponement, Nuri successfully blasted off from Naro Space Center and sent a dummy satellite into its target orbit as planned, making Korea the seventh country in the world to have developed a space launch vehicle that can carry a more than 1-ton satellite, after Russia, the United States, France, China, Japan and India.
Korea has secured the key independent technology for developing and launching space rockets carrying homegrown satellites, opening up a new era in the country's space program.
The 2 trillion-won ($1.52 billion) Nuri project that began in 2010 will continue until 2027, with three additional rocket launches.
On the third attempt, Nuri will carry eight payload satellites, including the country's second next-generation small satellite, the NEXTSAT-2, and put them into orbit.
The NEXTSAT-2 will be released 783 seconds after liftoff, and the other seven will be deployed at 20-second intervals. (Yonhap)
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