The satellite carried by Korea's first space rocket appears to have fallen toward earth after failing to enter the target orbit due to problems with the payload fairing, the ministry of education, science and technology said on August 26. One part of the fairing, which was used to cover and protect the domestically-built satellite, failed to separate as planned, making it difficult for the second-stage rocket to control the direction of its flight and gain enough velocity to put the satellite in the intended orbit, it said. However, the ministry said that the first-stage and second-stage rockets of Naro, or the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, successfully separated after liftoff at 5:00 p.m. August 25 from the Naro Space Centre, the country's first spaceport in Goheung, South Jeolla Province.

"The kick motor (of the second-stage rocket) successfully ignited and was about to gain velocity, but due to the payload fairing that weighs four times more than the satellite, it was difficult for the rocket to steer itself in the right direction and pick up enough speed," said vice science minister Kim Jung-hyun in a press briefing. "The satellite separated 540 seconds after liftoff along with the remaining part of the fairing. The satellite at the time was travelling at a speed of 6.2km per second, slower the 8km per second the satellite needs to maintain to enter the intended orbit." Officials at the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute, which has been in charge of the rocket launch project since August 2002, presumed that the 100kg satellite would be destroyed if it reentered the Earth's atmosphere. The Australian embassy notified the ministry yesterday that an unidentified object had fallen in the city of Darwin, Australia. The ministry presumed that the object may be part of the second-stage rocket. A government committee was set to be established yesterday to verify the result of the investigation into what caused the fairing to fail to properly separate. The investigation has been conducted by Korean and Russian engineers.

Another rocket will be launched in May next year, as agreed in a contract with the Russian company that made the first-stage rocket. The Russians will also be responsible for a third launch if both of the first two launches fails. Naro has been jointly developed by the KARI and Russia's Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Center. The Russian institute has developed the liquid fuel first-stage rocket, which generates a thrust of 170 tons. The solid fuel second-stage rocket, which generates a thrust of eight tons, has been developed by KARI. "The Science and Technology Satellite 2," which was developed at a cost of 13.65 billion won ($11 million), was jointly developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology. The satellite was designed to gather information on the Earth's atmosphere and measure the Earth's radiant energy and satellite orbits. Korea has spent 502.4 billion won on the project, which began in August 2002. About 40 percent of that amount has been paid to the Russian organization. The country plans to launch a 1.5-ton multi-purpose commercial satellite on a fully indigenous rocket, named KSLV-2, possibly in 2018. (Source: AsiaOne News)