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Space startup postpones launch of Hanbit-Nano, Korea's first commercial rocket

Published: 20 Dec. 2025, 11:03 Updated: 20 Dec. 2025, 11:18

KIM JEE-HEE
[email protected]

The Hanbit-Nano, the first commercial space vehicle developed by a Korean space startup Innospace, is raised in preparation for launch at the Alcantara Space Center in Brazil on Friday. The launch, however, was delayed due to a technical issue. [INNOSPACE]

Korean space startup Innospace has called off the launch attempt for its first commercial space rocket, the Hanbit-Nano, due to a technical issue.

The launch at the Alcantara Space Center in Brazil was scheduled for 9.30 p.m. Friday, but was halted after engineers identified a system requiring further inspection.

According to the company, a valve used to fill a liquid methane tank for the rocket's second stage required an additional technical checkup.

Innospace said a new launch date within the available window will be decided in consultation with the Brazilian Air Force.

The current launch window at the center runs from Jan. 16 to Jan. 22.

This marks the third postponement of the Hanbit-Nano launch.

The rocket had initially been scheduled to launch on Nov. 22 but was delayed to Wednesday after engineers detected abnormal signals in avionics equipment.

It was then moved again after an issue was found in the cooling system of the first-stage oxidizer supply during final prelaunch procedures.

Repeated launch delays are not uncommon in the space industry.

SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, postponed the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket eight times in March due to bad weather and technical issues while preparing to launch NASA's SPHEREx telescope, developed jointly with Korea.

The Hanbit-Nano is a two-stage space launch vehicle designed to place a 90-kilogram (198-pound) payload into a 500-kilometer-high (310-mile-high) sun-synchronous orbit.

The rocket is 21.8 meters (71 feet) long and 1.4 meters in diameter, with a liftoff weight of 18.8 tons.

Its first stage is powered by a single 25-ton-thrust hybrid rocket engine, while the second stage uses a single three-ton-thrust liquid methane rocket engine.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]