Goheung:South Korea's homegrown Nuri rocket was transported to a launchpad and positioned vertically on Tuesday, one day ahead of its planned fifth launch, according to the country's space agency.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) reported that the launch team completed moving the rocket to the Naro Space Center in Goheung, approximately 330 kilometers south of Seoul, at 7:30 a.m. The journey from the assembly complex took 90 minutes.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute confirmed that the rocket was set upright and secured by 10:35 a.m. The launch team will now connect the rocket to umbilical systems for power and other essential links, performing checks before fueling the rocket with kerosene and liquid oxygen oxidizer. These preparations are expected to conclude by the end of the day.
KASA will hold a launch management committee meeting on Wednesday to finalize the launch time, considering technical readiness, weather conditions, and potential space object collisions.
The payload includes five NEONSAT microsatellites, part of South Korea's first domestically launched microsatellite constellation, and 10 CubeSats. This mission will be Nuri's first attempt to deploy multiple primary satellites sequentially for a singular mission.
Approximately four hours before liftoff, the launch team will commence fueling the three-stage rocket, following system checks. The NEONSATs, numbered 2 through 6, will be deployed at intervals of 35 to 40 seconds at an altitude of around 575 kilometers, followed by the deployment of the CubeSats in pairs at 10-second intervals.
The NEONSATs are tasked with high-frequency monitoring of the Korean Peninsula and surrounding areas for national security and disaster response. The complete constellation will eventually comprise 10 satellites, with an additional five to be launched during Nuri's sixth flight next year. Once fully operational, this constellation will provide imaging capabilities over the Korean Peninsula more than three times daily, revisiting the same location within 24 hours.