Ignoring Both the President and the Field... Who Is Holding Back Space Development? [Reading Science]

Reviewing the Preliminary Feasibility Study Conclusion That 'Paused' the Nuriho Improvement Project

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "The president's policy decisions and field opinions were ignored due to bureaucratic red tape."

This is the conclusion drawn after obtaining and reviewing the recently released preliminary feasibility study report that put the 'Korean-type Launch Vehicle Advancement Project,' i.e., the Nuriho upgrade project, on hold.

The government is currently promoting an upgrade project worth 2.02 trillion KRW, called the 'Korean-type Launch Vehicle Advancement Project,' aiming to enhance the Nuriho, which will be completed with its second launch next May, to gain competitiveness in the space launch vehicle market. Currently, Nuriho can only carry satellites weighing about 1.5 tons into low Earth orbit at 600?800 km. To survive in the space launch vehicle market, reliability must be improved and performance upgraded. Additionally, South Korea plans to launch a lunar landing probe by 2030, which the current Nuriho cannot handle. However, through the upgrade project, it was planned to enhance performance to place an 830 kg lunar landing probe into lunar transfer orbit. President Moon Jae-in officially announced this plan when attending the third comprehensive combustion test of the Nuriho first-stage engine in March.

However, this advancement project is currently adrift. In the preliminary feasibility study conducted last August led by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Planning and Evaluation, only the additional launch project budget of about 680 billion KRW was approved, while the remaining upgrade project budget of about 1.5 trillion KRW was put on hold.

The investigation report reveals the problems of Korea's space policy, namely the inefficiency of the bureaucratic preliminary feasibility study system and how political judgments by non-expert civilians dominate decisions while ignoring the field, which has been a long-standing criticism. First, the report explains the reason for the hold on the upgrade project by stating that "while the necessity exists," "pursuing performance advancement at this point, before final performance verification is completed, involves significant uncertainty."

The words of field researchers and developers are entirely different. They emphasize that continuity is essential in technology research and development, and regardless of the success of the first and second launches, R&D related to the upgrade project must proceed steadily. Due to this hold, except for the launch vehicle manufacturing and assembly personnel, R&D staff must spend next year solely on paperwork. This is an enormous waste of time, manpower, and budget. Although the first Nuriho launch was a remarkable achievement, as seen in other countries' cases, many failures might have occurred, and up to two years of wasted time is expected. If the development schedule is delayed, the plan to launch the 2030 lunar landing probe using the next-generation launch vehicle will also be jeopardized.

The report also contains content that can be seen as political judgment intervening ahead of the presidential election. It states, "Considering the need for large-scale budget input and various uncertainties at this point, it is necessary to build consensus on the development direction and conceptual design of the upgraded Korean-type launch vehicle." Despite President Moon already pledging the advancement project, the report put the project on hold citing 'consensus building' and 'various uncertainties,' ignoring the nature of research and development that requires long-term, continuous, and stable investment and the field's plea not to disregard experts.

In conclusion, the report can be read as saying, "Since a huge budget is involved, let's decide after the next president is elected." This means deciding after the first launch in October and the second launch next May, i.e., after next year's presidential election.

As a result, President Moon suffered a puzzling defeat, and R&D personnel are wasting time. South Korea's space development policy has already been delayed for over a year. Having invested decades of time, effort, and enormous budgets to secure space launch vehicle technology, Korea should hurry to develop a competitive launch vehicle and enter the market, but its progress has been hindered. This report has become an opportunity to realize the industry experts' criticism that bureaucratic preliminary feasibility studies and political judgments by non-experts are hampering space policy.