GOVT TO LAUNCH SPACE PROBE

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A close encounter between an asteroid named Apophis and our planet is expected to take place in April 2029. The government has decided to launch a space probe to study the potentially hazardous asteroid and is considering developing a four-stage space rocket that can fly 80 million kilometers from the Earth's surface.

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​Back in November, NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into a near-Earth asteroid named Dimorphos. It was just 11 million kilometers from the Earth's surface. The goal of the mission was to tip the dangerous asteroid off course. Another asteroid, named Apophis, measuring around 360 meters in diameter, is expected to approach the Earth at a distance of 37,000 km in April 2029. The mission of the Apophis explorer is to find out how the asteroid's trajectory and surface is impacted by Earth's gravity.

[Soundbite] Choi Young-june(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) : "Studies into asteroids are essential to prepare for possible collisions with Earth."

To find that out, a space rocket is needed to encounter asteroids 40 million kilometers in advance to map out the surface and fly along the incoming trajectory towards Earth. The explorer's flying distance is 80 million kilometers, 210 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The government is pushing for the development of a domestic four-stage rocket consisting of the three-stage liquid fuel engine of the homemade Nuri space rocket and the solid fuel engine developed by the Agency for Defense Development as a missile projectile.

[Soundbite] Yoon Mi-ran(Ministry of Science and ICT) : "Because we know when Apophis is to approach us, we're deliberating the feasibility of developing a four-stage rocket in time for its arrival. We are to devise a plan by late January."

The Agency for Defense Development believes it can develop a four-stage kick-motor rocket using accumulated missile projectile technologies.