The next-generation launch vehicle will be switched early to a methane-based reusable rocket. The Korea AeroSpace Administration said on the 22nd that the Ministry of Economy and Finance's Fiscal Project Evaluation Committee reviewed and approved the results of the reexamination of the appropriateness of the project plan to change the plan for the early conversion of the next-generation launch vehicle to a reusable system.
A reusable launch vehicle does not discard the rocket after a single use; instead, it recovers certain stages, refurbishes them, and uses them again. If successful, it is assessed to be advantageous for creating a low-expense, high-frequency launch system by cutting launch costs and increasing the number of launches.
The next-generation launch vehicle development project began in 2023 after a preliminary feasibility study in 2022, and the Korea AeroSpace Administration has pursued a transition to a reusable launch vehicle to meet Korea's expected surge in national space development demand in the 2030s and to respond in a timely manner to advanced spacefaring nations' competition in reusable launch vehicle development. On the 5th, it applied for administrative procedures for the transition to a reusable launch vehicle, and in Nov., the National Space Committee finalized the Revised 4th Basic Plan for Space Development Promotion, which includes developing the next-generation launch vehicle as a methane-based reusable launch vehicle.
Through this reexamination, the total project cost for developing the next-generation launch vehicle as a methane-based reusable launch vehicle was set at 2.29209 trillion won. That is 278.85 billion won more than the existing plan. Most of the increased budget will be invested in newly building methane-propellant-based test facilities and developing core technologies needed for reusability.
The key to this amendment is that the engine development strategy was simplified. Previously, two types of kerosene (jet fuel)-based staged combustion cycle engines were to be developed simultaneously for the first and second stages, but going forward, the plan adopts developing a single 80-ton-class methane-propellant engine and applying it to both the first and second stages.
The Korea AeroSpace Administration explained that by unifying the engine type into one, it embedded a strategy to increase efficiency in development and operations and to secure a reusable launch vehicle step by step. At the same time, it made clear its goal to carry out the lunar lander launch mission scheduled for 2032 without setbacks.
Yoon Young-bin, administrator of the Korea AeroSpace Administration, emphasized, "The approval of the plan to convert the next-generation launch vehicle into a reusable launch vehicle will serve as a starting point to steadily pursue the government's state philosophy of leap and growth through technological innovation, while fully launching efforts to secure low-cost, high-frequency space launch vehicles along with an independent lunar lander launch in 2032 for the public who supported the Nuri launch."