Later this month, South Korea's Agency for Defense Development is scheduled to conduct its fourth test launch of a solid-fuel space rocket from a floating platform off the southern coast of Jeju Island, building upon previous successful tests in December 2022 and November 2023. This specific mission will evaluate a full-configuration vehicle across its first three solid-propellant stages with the primary objective of delivering a 100-kilogram synthetic aperture radar reconnaissance satellite, developed by Hanwha Systems, into a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. Success in this mission will grant South Korea a crucial, independent transportation capability to deploy and rapidly replenish a low-Earth-orbit surveillance satellite network around the Korean Peninsula whenever necessary, as the primary benefit of a solid-fuel rocket lies in its rapid responsiveness and readiness. Unlike liquid-fuel launch vehicles, which require intricate piping systems and time-consuming cryogenic fueling immediately prior to launch, solid rockets remain fueled and can deploy satellites into orbit within hours or days without exposing extensive preparations to foreign surveillance, serving as a vital strategic national security tool and an invisible shield of deterrence amid rising military regional space integration. This security imperative explains why global space powers maintain solid-fuel systems despite economic criticisms, as seen with Japan continuing to support JAXA’s Epsilon rocket alongside its liquid-fuel H3 program for long-range defense deterrence, and Europe persisting with its Vega program to secure independent access to space for security assets without relying on the United States. Despite its military utility, solid-fuel technology struggles to remain competitive in the modern commercial New Space market, which favors massive constellations of small low-Earth-orbit satellites, because systems like Japan's Epsilon cost over 30 million dollars per launch, resulting in a cost-per-kilogram that cannot compete with modern reusable liquid-fuel rockets. Furthermore, extensive solid-fuel programs, such as those conducted by China and India, present severe environmental hazards in space, since the aluminum powder used to boost combustion efficiency generates microscopic aluminum oxide particles and molten residue that remain in orbit, traveling at velocities of seven to eight kilometers per second and continuously impacting operational spacecraft, which erodes optical instruments, deteriorates solar panels, damages thermal coatings, and threatens to make critical orbital paths unsustainably expensive to operate. As South Korea advances its space program, policymakers must avoid replicating the environmental mistakes of earlier space powers by implementing a distinct two-track strategy that separates military objectives from commercial and ecological goals, meaning that the solid-fuel rocket technology being finalized in Jeju should be isolated as a specialized defense asset tailored strictly for national security and emergency satellite deployment, while national commercial resources should be heavily concentrated on environmentally sustainable systems, focusing investments on large liquid-propellant launch vehicles and reusable technologies that allow high-frequency commercial operations while mitigating orbital debris, so that the country can maintain a strong security shield while fostering commercial growth through economic and environmental stewardship. (ICE SEOUL)

Fonte notizia: KOREA JOONGANG DAILY