South Korea loses satellite after launch

A South Korean rocket trying to put a satellite into orbit appears to have exploded less than three minutes after blast-off, the science minister said. The science and technology minister Ahn Byong-Man said the Naro-I rocket is thought to have blown up 137 seconds after blast-off, when ground control lost contact with it. "The Naro appeared to have exploded in flight," Ahn said. Spectators waving national flags jumped or danced jubilantly as they watched the blast-off from the Naro Space Centre on the south coast, television pictures showed. But shortly after lift-off at 5:01 pm local time, engineers reported that communications had been cut.

Contact was lost completely 137 seconds after blast-off when the rocket was at an altitude of 70 kilometres, said Lee Joo-Jin, the head of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. "We will try all possible means to track our satellite," he told a briefing. The scientific satellite had been expected to separate from the rocket at an altitude of 302km and deploy its solar panels about nine minutes after blast-off.

There was no indication whether this had gone according to plan. South Korea is trying to join an exclusive club currently numbering nine nations that have put a satellite into orbit using a domestically assembled rocket. Its first attempt failed last August when fairings on the nose cone of the Naro-1 failed to open properly so that the satellite could be released into orbit. The latest launch was postponed on Wednesday for one day after the fire extinguisher system began leaking.

The nation has spent more than 500 billion won (Dh1,469 million) on the 140-ton Naro-1. The liquid-fuelled first stage of the rocket was made in Russia, while the second stage was built domestically, as was the satellite. "Even though we lost contact, I hope there will be good news from Norway or the US," said the prime minister Chung Un-Chan, speaking from the space centre and referring to arrangements with those countries to track the trajectory.

"I'm still hoping for success," he said, indicating the rocket still can place the satellite into orbit. *AFP