Naro Space Center Explosion Accident... "Unrelated to Nuriho 3rd Launch"

Ministry of Science and ICT Announces on the 1st
During Next-Generation Launch Vehicle Development Test on the Previous Afternoon

A fire broke out at Naro Space Center in Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do, but it was confirmed to be unrelated to the third launch of Nuriho.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 1st that a fire accident occurred around 3:25 p.m. on the 31st of last month while testing the turbo pump for the upper stage of the next-generation launch vehicle at Naro Space Center. The center immediately cut off the propellant supply and initiated an emergency shutdown upon the fire outbreak, and after 1 hour and 10 minutes of firefighting efforts, the fire was extinguished. There were no casualties, and only the test equipment was damaged.

This fire occurred during the development of the upper stage engine (10-ton class turbo pump) technology for the 'next-generation launch vehicle,' which is being developed as a successor model to Nuriho, and is therefore unrelated to the third launch scheduled for May to June.

Naro Space Center, Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do. Archive photo.

Oh Tae-seok, the first vice minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "The fire broke out about 40 seconds after fuel injection during the 'real fluid' test, which involves injecting actual fuel, damaging the test equipment but causing no casualties. The Nuriho vehicle to be used for the third launch has already been fully assembled and is unrelated to this fire. We are analyzing data to determine the cause."