S. Korean Navy recovers rocket debris from lost rocket

Yonhap ^ | 6/11/2010 | Yonhap

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The South Korean Navy has recovered debris that could have come from its space rocket that may have exploded during ascent, the government said Friday.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said that debris was picked up from international waters south of Jeju Island.

No details have been given as to what type of debris was collected from the water or what time it was found. Because the outer shell of the rocket is 2 millimeters thick, there is a chance that some parts of the rocket may float.

The Naro-1 rocket made with Russian cooperation blasted off from the Naro Space Center off the south coast at 5:01 p.m. Thursday. Communication with the rocket was lost a little over two minutes into the flight at an altitude of 70 kilometers, 87 kilometers south of the launch pad near Jeju Island.

Seoul speculated that it exploded around the time that communications was lost and just before the first-stage engine was about to reach its maximum thrust of 144 tons.

The ministry said the navy will hand over the debris to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and said it will work closely with Russia in the retrieval of objects that may have come from the rocket in the future.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Its interesting they using liquid propelled rockets from Russia.