South Korea’s defense ministry has evaluated that the recent successful test flight of a solid-fuel space launch vehicle shows progress from the previous test.

According to the ministry on Monday, the state-run Agency for Defense Development(ADD) successfully tested the ignition and combustion of the second-, third- and fourth-stage rockets of the four-stage vehicle on Friday.

The test also included a check of other elements such as fairing separation, rocket separation, the attitude control of the upper-stage rocket and the separation of a dummy satellite.

The first test of the country’s homegrown solid-fuel rocket last March was conducted only on the second-stage combustion.

The ministry currently aims to put a 500-kilogram Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR) satellite into a low Earth orbit around 2025 for space-based reconnaissance and surveillance operations.

Source: KBS World Radio