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S. Korean startup Innospace launches test launch vehicle HANBIT-TLV

Yonhap Korea Stories 08:12 March 20, 2023

SEOUL, March 20 (Yonhap) -- Innospace, a South Korean space startup, said Monday its suborbital test launch vehicle, HANBIT-TLV, has been launched.

The 8.4-ton thrust single stage hybrid rocket was fired from the Alcantara Space Center in northern Brazil at 2:52 p.m. Sunday (local time), or 2:52 a.m. Monday (Korean time), according to the company.

"We are now verifying the flight performance of the engine and its payloads," Innospace said in a statement. "We will announce the final result of the launch later."

Innospace had attempted to launch HANBIT-TLV since December last year but had postponed it several times due to weather conditions and mechanical errors.

The HANBIT-TLV, the first civilian small satellite launcher in South Korea, is a test project to validate the first stage engine of HANBIT-Nano, a commercial rocket for small satellites capable of carrying a 50-kilogram payload.

Last year, Innospace signed an agreement with the Brazilian Department of Aerospace Science and Technology to launch the latter's inertial navigation system, called SISNAV, being carried onboard as a payload of HANBIT-TLV.

If it succeeds in test-firing HANBIT-TLV, Innospace will possibly become South Korea's first private launch service provider, analogous to Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as Space X in the United States.

The South Korean government has also led aerospace projects, including the most recent one that sent the 200-ton rocket Nuri into space in June 2022, carrying a 162.5-kilogram performance verification satellite.

This undated photo provided by Innospace shows HANBIT-TLV, its suborbital test launch vehicle, erected on the launch pad at the Alcantara Space Center in northern Brazil. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

This undated photo provided by Innospace shows HANBIT-TLV, its suborbital test launch vehicle, erected on the launch pad at the Alcantara Space Center in northern Brazil. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

brk@yna.co.kr
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