[Anchor]

With the successful fifth launch of the Nuri space launch vehicle, South Korea's reliability in the space industry has risen to a new level. Our technology is now moving on to even more ambitious tasks, with a goal of heading to the Moon using Nuri in three years.

Reporter Jeong Gu-hui has the details.

[Reporter]

Following the successful fifth launch of Nuri yesterday (October 7), which successfully placed satellites into orbit.

South Korea has secured the capability to send satellites or probes into space orbit at any time.

Now, the target is the Moon.

When South Korea's first lunar orbiter, Danuri, headed to the Moon back in 2022, it relied on a U.S. rocket.

The rocket lifted Danuri up to an altitude of 700 kilometers, and Danuri flew the remaining 380,000 kilometers to the Moon on its own.

Having already acquired the technology to fly from Earth orbit to the Moon, applying this method makes it possible to send a lunar probe using Nuri as well.

The plan is to deploy a lunar communication orbiter using Nuri in 2029, followed by sending the first lunar lander the next year, in 2030.

Commercialization is also picking up speed.

Starting with the sixth launch next year, Hanwha Aerospace, the private company that has received the technology transfer, will manufacture each stage of Nuri.

[Oh Tae-seok / Administrator of the Korea Aerospace Administration (KAA): Launches will be government-led until 2028, and starting in 2029 (the 8th launch), it will transition entirely to being led by the private sector.]

Lowering costs, which is critical for commercialization, requires reusable launch vehicles.

U.S.-based SpaceX dominates the global market using Falcon 9, and China also successfully recovered its Long March 10B rocket for the first time last July.

Domestic companies are also showcasing demonstrator vehicles to develop reusable launch technology.

[Park Chang-su / Head of Next-Generation Launch Vehicle Development at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute: The first stage accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of the cost. Reusing it doesn't save all 70 percent, but it saves the vast majority of it.]

The Korea Aerospace Administration is currently designing a reusable 100-ton class engine that is more powerful than Nuri's current 75-ton engine, with plans to attempt rocket reuse before 2035.

(Video Editing: Lee Sang-min)