[Reading Science] SpaceX Also Failed... Korean Startup's Courageous Launch Delay

'Super Heavy' Amazing Earth Return Also Learned from Failure
Ferige Chooses to Postpone Sea Launch After Consecutive Struggles
CEO Shin Dong-yoon "Aware of Concerns but Learned... Will Definitely Succeed Next Year"

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is standing on the launch pad.
[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

On the 17th, during the National Assembly audit of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the Space and Aviation Agency, members of both ruling and opposition parties focused their attention on Elon Musk's SpaceX. SpaceX recently succeeded in landing its ‘Super Heavy’ rocket, which is as tall as a high-rise building, by controlling its posture mid-air and catching it with a massive robotic arm. This spectacle was quite shocking to the attending lawmakers.

The first question was raised by Lee Jeong-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who began his inquiry by showing a historic speech scene where then U.S. President John F. Kennedy, inspired by the Soviet Union’s satellite launch, declared the goal of going to the moon within ten years. Subsequently, several lawmakers focused their questions on the level of South Korea’s space technology and the possibility of catching up with reusable launch vehicles.

◇ ‘Super Heavy’ that turned hope into despair = Earlier, on September 9, Yoon Young-bin, head of the Space and Aviation Agency, expressed an ambitious vision at a 100-day press conference for the agency’s launch, promising to provide launch services at half the cost compared to SpaceX. However, just over a month later, Yoon’s ‘blueprint’ was reduced to an empty promise in the face of SpaceX’s astonishing achievements. Starship plans to reduce the cost per launch to $2 million to $3 million (approximately 2.7 billion to 4.1 billion KRW). At this level, competition is virtually impossible. Moreover, South Korea does not yet have any reusable launch vehicles.

No Kyung-won, deputy head of the Space and Aviation Agency, when asked whether they could secure reusable launch vehicles despite evaluations that lightweight reusable launch vehicles lack business viability and will become ineffective by the mid-2030s, replied, "We will announce a concrete strategy in December," withholding further comments.

There was hope that the establishment of the Space and Aviation Agency would transform South Korea into a space powerhouse. However, the reality gap shattered such hopes. The sight of the largest rocket in human history stopping mid-air and being caught by giant chopsticks was shocking. This sharply contrasted with our reality, where government-funded research institutes, companies, and government authorities repeatedly deliberate over intellectual property rights for rocket development for lunar exploration.

Despite lawmakers’ criticism and concerns, there is a part we tend to forget. Just a year ago, many ridiculed SpaceX’s reckless challenges. SpaceX did not succeed in launches from the start. The Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Starship, and Super Heavy, which now almost always succeed in launches, developed through failures.

Starship experienced multiple explosions from its prototype stage. It often disappointed observers by exploding suddenly after successful flight and landing.

Last year, the combined experiments of Starship and Super Heavy also faced four failures. Of course, progress was made with each failure. The saying “failure is the mother of success” was precisely true in this case.

Musk is famous for not fearing failure. In a 2005 interview with Fast Company, he said, "Failure is an option. If you are not failing, you are not innovating enough." Is this true? Tesla and SpaceX have repeatedly advanced by using failure as a stepping stone. For Musk, the case of Super Heavy succeeding without failure at once is rather unusual.

Failures have always been part of our space development history as well. The first scientific rocket launch in 1993 failed, and the first and second launches of Naroho in 2009 and 2010 consecutively ended in failure. Naroho only succeeded on the third attempt.

Park Chang-su, head of the Next-Generation Launch Vehicle Development Project Group at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said at the 2024 Science Journalists Conference in July during the session ‘Space Agency, Is Reusable Launch Vehicle Development Necessary?’ that "SpaceX succeeded in developing reusable launch vehicle technology after eight failed test launches," and added, "They should be given ten chances."

The test launch vehicle 'Blue Whale 0.4' by Perigee Aerospace is erected on the maritime launch pad. Photo by Perigee Aero [Image source=Yonhap News]

◇ Courageous retreat of a space startup = Less than a week after SpaceX’s great success, on the 18th, launch vehicle startup Perigee Aerospace announced that it would postpone its suborbital test launch scheduled for this year to the first quarter of next year. It was a difficult decision but a step back for progress. Shin Dong-yoon, CEO of Perigee, who is also a graduate student in aerospace engineering at KAIST, judged that it was better to take a break amid various challenges rather than pushing forward. He said it is not yet time to press the launch button.

Perigee had planned to launch its self-developed suborbital test launch vehicle ‘BW0.4 (Blue Whale 0.4)’ from its own marine launch platform (MLP) located offshore Jeju Island in the first half of this year but had postponed the launch date several times, delaying it until October.

The company explained that the schedule delay became inevitable due to issues found during the final rehearsal stage. They pointed to the exposure of the launch vehicle to the sea for over five months while preparing for the marine launch as the cause. Repeated typhoons caused repeated connection and disconnection of the RBF (Remove Before Flight) pin fastening parts, which is presumed to have caused contact failures in ignition-related components.

Shim Soo-yeon, vice president of Perigee, expressed the difficulty, saying, "I did not realize how hard it would be to launch from the sea." South Korea still lacks a ground launch site where private companies can launch rockets. The Naro Space Center in Goheung, Jeollanam-do, is exclusively used by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, a government-funded research institute. This issue was also pointed out during the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee audit held on the 17th. Due to this problem, another domestic launch vehicle company, Innospace, is attempting launches overseas.

Ultimately, the company decided to postpone the launch plan to comprehensively re-examine and supplement the hardware and risks that may occur during the actual launch. It is also known that the accumulated fatigue of employees due to the launch delay was taken into consideration. The expected initial public offering (IPO) after the test launch is also expected to be delayed.

Although the challenge was postponed, there were achievements. Last month, the Ministry of Science and ICT recognized Perigee’s cryogenic propellant engine technology for space launch vehicles as a national strategic technology, the first for a domestic space company.

CEO Shin Dong-yoon said, "It is very regrettable that we could not proceed within the planned launch schedule, but it is meaningful that we secured operational capabilities for marine launches and technical assets to cope with various variables at sea," and vowed, "We will redouble our efforts and definitely succeed."