The launch of South Korea’s “indigenous” space launch vehicle (KSLV-1) has once again been postponed, this time to around August 19th; presumably due to weather issues. I haven’t been able learn the intended orbit (other than its going to be LEO, or low Earth orbit). So it is an interesting question of whether or not it will overfly Japan. You will, of course, remember all the uproar over North Korea’s space launch attempts which certainly did overfly Japan, causing concern that stages (or a warhead) might fall on that country. South Korea’s space launch center is all the way at the southern tip of that country so it is at least possible for them to pick an azimuth so that it doesn’t overfly Japan. However, if they do, the satellite will have to have at least an orbital inclination of 62 degrees, considerably increasing the “threshold” velocity needed to get into orbit. Of course, South Korea is partnering with Russia to build the rocket (Russia is building the cryogenic liquid propellant first stage while S. Korea is building the solid-propellant second stage) so this might not be an issue. Does this acquisition path sound familiar to anyone?
By the way, Peter Brown at the Asia Times is asking some interesting political questions about the launch so be sure to watch his byline.