Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea’s new satellite launch rocket exploded in a ball of fire minutes after takeoff before falling into the Yellow Sea. But experts say the effort marks a new breakthrough in the nuclear-armed nation’s space race. North Korea said in a statement that its latest attempt to launch a military spy satellite failed to take off during the rocket’s first stage on Monday. In which new liquid oxygen and petroleum engines were used. Initial investigations revealed that the new cause of the explosion was a liquid-fuel rocket motor. While other possible causes are being investigated.
A report by state media KCNA said it is most different from the Cholima-1 rocket used in the successful satellite launch in November 2023. However, state media has not released the name of the rocket or its images. Experts said that Cholima-1 had to face several explosions before success. Cholima uses hypergolic fuel. These are substances that can be kept at room temperature, but catch fire when they come into contact with each other. For which a careful arrangement is necessary.
US officials and independent experts said the Cholima-1 appeared to be based on a system developed for North Korea’s nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles. which generally do not use liquid oxygen due to the cold temperatures required for storage. Lee Chun-geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the petroleum fuel and liquid oxygen engines suggest Russia may have helped develop them.
He said that even if it was a failed launch, it was a giant leap. He said some of South Korea’s space rockets were initially developed with Russia decades ago and use similar technology. Russia is the strongest country to use liquid oxygen-kerosene fuel engines. Our Naro and Nuri rockets have adopted this through technical cooperation with Russia. He said this is probably why North Korea conducted several successful rocket tests late last year.
Tags: North Korea, space, Space exploration, Space News
First published: May 29, 2024, 16:08 IST