Seoul releases video of solid-fuel space rocket test
Seoul, Jan 2 (EFE).- South Korea’s defense ministry on Monday released a video of the test launch of a solid-fuel space rocket which it plans to use in the future to improve and expand its reconnaissance satellite network.
The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) conducted the test on Dec. 30 from a floating platform at its testing site in Taean, 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) southwest of Seoul, close to the Yellow Sea coast.
The Ministry said in a statement that the entire process was completed successfully, from the launch until the separation of the rocket – including its respective phases – and the payload.
This is the second launch of its kind after the first test flight with a rocket of this prototype was conducted by Seoul in March 2022.
The test was not announced in advance and took many South Koreans by surprise when it was carried out on Friday night.
The strange trail and light that the rocket projected in the sky could be seen clearly from all over Seoul and the adjacent provinces of Gangwon and South Chungcheong, where Taean is located.
Thousands of videos, accompanied by messages of concern about the possibility of a missile fired at or by North Korea flooded social media before the military publicly announced that they were testing a future space rocket.
The decision to not announce the test in advance triggered some criticism, after an event in November when a Hyunmoo-2 missile launched by South Korea as a response to North Korea’s missile tests crashed inside a military base in Gangneung (east coast) due to a gyro error.
The people of the region spent hours wondering whether they were under attack by North Korea or if an aviation accident had happened, until the military explained the event to the public.
South Korea’s latest rocket launch came a week after North Korea launched a future reconnaissance satellite which it aims to get ready for April.
Seoul has been aiming to develop a solid-fuel space launch vehicle – much cheaper and reliable than those used for liquid propellants – since it signed an agreement with Washington in 2021 lifting restrictions on missiles and rockets, which were not allowed to have have a range of more than 800 kilometers (about 497 miles) until then. EFE
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