South Korea’s Nuri Rocket Completes Fourth Successful Flight

the rocket lifted off at 1:13:00 a.m. on the 27th from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province.

South Korea’s homegrown space launch vehicle Nuri (KSLV-II) has successfully completed its fourth launch, with the government saying it plans two more launches by 2027. The milestone drew strong public interest and support, underscoring South Korea’s steady progress toward securing independent space transportation capability.

The Korea Aerospace Administration and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said the rocket lifted off at 1:13:00 a.m. on the 27th from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province. At around 1:55 a.m., Next-Generation Mid-Sized Satellite 3 made its first contact with the ground station at King Sejong Station in Antarctica, confirming that key satellite systems—including solar panel deployment—were functioning normally.

Of the 12 secondary payload satellites, five have completed communications with ground stations. Some of the remaining seven are expected to attempt first contact. For satellites that have not yet been reached, additional communication attempts will continue according to the planned schedule.

The launch is particularly notable because Hanwha Aerospace, the prime system integration company, oversaw the rocket’s manufacturing and assembly and participated in launch operations led by KARI. The success therefore highlights the significance of a public-private partnership in preparing and executing the mission.

KARI’s initial analysis of remotely received telemetry (flight data transmitted from the rocket) confirmed that Nuri successfully separated and deployed Next-Generation Mid-Sized Satellite 3 and 12 CubeSats into the target 600-kilometer orbit. The rocket then proceeded through its preplanned flight sequence with all stages operating normally.

The first-, second-, and third-stage engine burns, as well as fairing separation (the jettison of the protective nose cone), were all carried out as planned, culminating in the successful deployment of the primary and secondary payloads.

After achieving stable insertion into the target orbit, Next-Generation Mid-Sized Satellite 3 conducted its first two-way communication at around 1:55 a.m. with the Antarctic ground station. It later established additional contact at around 2:48 a.m. via KARI’s ground antenna in Daejeon. To date, the satellite has conducted two two-way communications with KARI ground stations and 12 with overseas ground stations.

During these contacts, engineers verified the functions of the satellite’s main components. Further communications with KARI’s Daejeon station and others are planned to downlink detailed status data and conduct more precise system checks.

Following an initial two-month early operations phase for payload inspection and mission readiness, the satellite is expected to begin full-scale space science operations for about one year in a sun-synchronous orbit (an orbit that passes over the same part of Earth at roughly the same local solar time), circling Earth approximately 15 times per day.

With this consecutive success following Nuri’s second and third launches, the program’s overall reliability has been further strengthened. The achievement also reaffirms that South Korea has secured an independent space transportation capability and enhanced its self-reliant national space development capacity.

Yoon Young-bin, Administrator of the Korea Aerospace Administration, said the government plans to conduct two more Nuri launches by 2027 while also pushing ahead with development of a next-generation launch vehicle with improved performance. He expressed gratitude to the public for its support and to KARI and industry partners for their dedication and effort behind the fourth launch.

He added that the successful mission is expected to provide 13 satellites with opportunities to validate their performance through actual space operations, contributing to strengthening the nation’s satellite industry capabilities. He emphasized that the administration will make thorough preparations to ensure the fifth and sixth launches proceed successfully and provide timely in-orbit verification opportunities for planned payloads.