South Korea to launch domestic Nuri rocket after technical glitch

South Korea's domestic Nuri rocket will be launched on Thursday, authorities announced, a day after it was forced to postpone due to a technical fault only hours before lift-off.

It will be the Nuri's third launch, having successfully sent test satellites into orbit last year following a disastrous 2021 effort in which the rocket's third-stage engine burned out prematurely.

The launch on Wednesday was cancelled due to a communication issue between the launch control computer and another computer overseeing the launch pad.

According to authorities, the problem was resolved Thursday morning, and the Nuri was ready to sail.

"The Ministry of Science and ICT made the final decision to proceed with launch operation procedures with the goal of launching at 18:24 (0924 GMT) today," vice minister Oh Tae-seog said.

More from World

The three-stage rocket, more than 47 metres (155 feet) long and weighing 200 tonnes, will be launched from the Naro Space Center in South Korea's southern coastal region.

In previous tests, the rocket carried payloads mainly designed for verifying the performance of the launch vehicle.

This time, the rocket was to be topped with eight working satellites, including a "commercial-grade satellite", according to the science ministry.

"The third launch is aimed at putting a domestically developed satellite with observation missions into the target orbit," Ko Jeong-hwan, director of the Nuri rocket project at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), told reporters earlier.

The 180-kilogram NEXTSat 2 satellite, developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, is meant to be placed into orbit at an altitude of 550 kilometres, KARI said.

The satellite has a small synthetic aperture radar that can capture high-resolution images regardless of weather conditions.

The three-stage Nuri rocket has been a decade in development at a cost of two trillion won ($1.5 billion).

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,

India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.