Nuri rocket advances South Korea’s commercial space ambitions

South Korea marked the beginning of its private spaceflight era on Nov. 27 last year with the successful fourth launch of its domestically developed Nuri rocket. The government aims to lay the groundwork for a private-led commercial launch market through follow-up missions, including the fifth and sixth Nuri launches planned between this year and 2027.

The fourth Nuri launch was notable because a rocket assembled under private sector leadership succeeded on its first attempt, completing both liftoff and communication with its payload satellites. The primary payload, the Next-Generation Medium-Sized Satellite No. 3, established successful contact with ground stations on launch day. While not included in the official success criteria, the deployment of 12 additional microsatellites was also successful. Together, the 13 satellites weighed 960 kilograms, nearly twice the 500 kilograms carried during Nuri’s third launch, its first operational mission. Experts say the achievement demonstrates South Korea’s growing capability to carry heavier payloads for practical space missions.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute, in collaboration with Hanwha Aerospace, plans to conduct the fifth Nuri launch in the third quarter of this year, followed by a sixth launch in 2027. The upcoming fifth mission is expected to test Nuri’s capability for repeated launch operations and to advance South Korea’s satellite technology and utilization by placing multiple microsatellites and technology demonstration satellites into orbit.

Under the current schedule, next year’s sixth launch would be the final confirmed Nuri mission. A seventh launch in 2028 is under discussion with budget authorities. The Korea Aerospace Administration has said that achieving a success rate above 90 percent, a level considered necessary for commercialization, would require at least 10 launches given the current success rate of about 75 percent. Securing sufficient funding remains a major challenge. The program appears to have regained momentum after President Lee Jae-myung said in December that preparations should be made on the assumption of one space launch vehicle per year.

Separately, the government is advancing the Next-Generation Launch Vehicle Development Project. While Nuri is designed to place a 1.5-metric-ton satellite into low Earth orbit, the next-generation launcher aims to establish independent space exploration capabilities. As part of the project, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute plans to send a lunar lander to the moon by 2032. Hanwha Aerospace is participating as a private-sector partner.

In the private sector, space launch company Innospace plans another attempt at a commercial launch in the first half of this year. In December, Innospace attempted the country’s first commercial launch by a private company with its small rocket, Hanbit-Nano, but the mission failed due to rocket damage. Using data from the previous launch, the company is investigating the cause of the failure. The timing of a re-launch will be determined after the investigation and any necessary follow-up measures are completed. Meanwhile, Arirang 6, an Earth observation satellite developed domestically by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, is also scheduled for launch in the first half of this year. Equipped with a synthetic aperture radar capable of 0.5-meter resolution, Arirang 6 is designed to conduct observations at night and in adverse weather conditions.


박종민 blick@donga.com