By Park Si-soo
SEOUL, Nov. 30 (Sankyung Today) -- South Korea will spend 2.013 trillion won ($1.52 billion) over the next ten years on developing a next-generation rocket “KSLV-3” capable of sending up to 10 tons of payload to low Earth orbit, 3.7 tons to geostationary orbit, 1.8 tons to the moon, and 1 ton to Mars.
The KSLV-3 development plan recently cleared a feasibility study by the finance ministry, paving the way for its development to begin next year as planned, said the science ministry, Nov. 29.
KSLV-3 is a two-stage rocket, with a cluster of five 100-ton, staged combustion cycle engines in the first-stage booster, and two 10-ton, staged combustion cycle engines in the upper stage.
Unlike the development of KSLV-2, which was done primarily by the state-funded Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), KSLV-3 will be developed in collaboration between KARI and a designated industry partner from the get-go, a public-to-private transfer of space technologies aimed at nurturing domestic space companies.
While KSLV-3’s development is set to be completed by 2032, the science ministry plans to launch the rocket three times along the way to test and validate applied technologies.
The first test launch, scheduled for 2030, will carry a satellite designed to verify if the rocket is capable of sending a payload to the moon. The second test launch, set for 2031, will carry a prototype hardware of South Korea’s robotic lunar lander that will attempt a soft-landing on the moon.
The third test launch, set for 2032, will carry South Korea’s first, fully equipped robotic lunar lander.