South Korea’s Innospace fails on first orbital launch
South Korean startup Innospace failed in its first-ever orbital rocket launch on Monday night, aiming to make history with its Hanbit-Nano rocket.
The 57-foot Hanbit-Nano lifted off from Brazil’s Alcantara Space Center at 8:13 p.m. EST but crashed back to Earth about a minute later, according to Space Orbit. The cause of the failure remains unclear, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The rocket, designed to deliver up to 198 pounds (90 kg) of payload into sun-synchronous orbit, carried five small satellites from Brazil and India along with three tech-demo payloads.
Innospace, founded in 2017 and employing around 260 people, developed all launch technology in-house. CEO Kim Soo-jong has said the company is also working on larger rockets, Hanbit-Micro and Hanbit-Mini, for future missions.
Monday’s launch had been delayed multiple times due to technical issues and bad weather before finally taking place.
Similar news
