The “space race” in Asia to date has focused on Japan, China and India, “but this will be the year that South Korea manifests itself as the definite fourth Asian player” reports The Korea Times.

South Korea will attempt a second launch of its KSLV-1 rocket this year. The first attempt failed last year when the South Korean-built fairing for the second stage did not separate properly. The KSLV-1’s first stage is built by Russia’s Khrunichev company, which has been helping the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) diagnose and resolve the problem. KARI’s President, Lee Joo-jin, stresses that the agreement with Russia permits no technology transfer so South Korea does not yet have the technological know-how to build an indigenous rocket. That is the goal, however, for a three-stage KSLV-II that KARI hopes to develop by 2019.

In addition to the KSLV-1 launch tentatively scheduled for May, other highlights for South Korea’s space program in 2010 cited by the newspaper are:

• the March launch by Europe of South Korea’s COMS-1 geostationary meteorological/ocean surveillance satellite;
• the launch late this year by Russia of South Korea’s KOMPSAT-5 (Korean Multipurpose Satellite-5) synthetic aperture radar satellite; and
• release of South Korea’s “Vision 2030” in the first half of the year laying out its space program plans, including landing a robotic probe on the Moon by 2025.

The President of the Russian company building a successor to the venerable Soyuz spacecraft said today that the new vehicle will make its first test flight in 2015, according to Anatoly Zak at Russianspaceweb.com. Dubbed PTK NP, the new spacecraft is being designed for launch on a new rocket, Rus-M, from a new Russian launch site, Vostochny.

PTK NP is being built by RKK Energia. The remarks of Energia’s President, Vitaly Lopota, at the Bauman Technical University in Moscow today were reported by Zak.

Some Russian space watchers wonder if Russia will devote the necessary funds to build a new spacecraft, new rocket, and new launch site in the next five years. Lopota’s remarks suggested that the dates may be hard to meet, saying the 2015 test flight (without a crew) would take place from the Baikonur cosmodrome if Vostochny is not completed. Zak notes that development of the Rus-M began only in 2009 and is being designed specifically to support PTK NP from Vostochny, so if the launch instead is from Baikonur, an existing vehicle like the Zenit might be needed instead.

All Soviet/Russian human spaceflight launches have taken place from Baikonur (referred to as Tyuratam during the Cold War), which is in Kazakhstan. Once part of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan became an independent republic after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Russia has had to lease Baikonur from Kazakhstan since that time. Some Russian space officials have called for establishment of a launch site within Russia’s borders capable of supporting the geostationary and comparatively low inclination launches traditionally conducted at Baikonur for both military and civilian space actvities. Vostochny (“Eastern”), in Russia’s Amur Region in the far east, is intended to be that site. Russia’s other operating space launch site is Plesetsk near the Arctic Circle. It is used for satellites headed to high inclination orbits such as polar orbits.

Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft has been in service since 1967, though it has been upgraded several times over the years. Its launch vehicle, also called Soyuz (previously “A-2”), is used for many space missions in addition to human spaceflight. The new Rus-M would be able to place heavier payloads into low Earth orbit.

Deadlines for submitting abstracts for papers to be considered for presentation at the 2010 meetings of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) are February 19 and March 5, respectively. COSPAR’s meeting this year is in Bremen, Germany from July 18-25. The IAC will be in Prague, Czech Republic, from September 27-October 1.

Broadly speaking, COSPAR focuses on space science while the IAC focuses on space engineering, space policy and space law. COSPAR, a component of the International Council for Science, holds a scientific assembly every two years. The IAC is held every year and comprises meetings of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL). The theme of this year’s IAC is Space for Human Benefit and Exploration. The call for papers is available on the IAF’s website.

A new Iranian satellite, AUT SAT, will be unveiled during the “Ten-Day Dawn” (February 1-11) according to a report from the Iranian Mehr News Agency (MHR). The 70-80 kilogram satellite is being designed by scientists at Iran’s Amir-Kabir University of Technology (AUT) to assess damage from earthquakes, droughts and other natural disasters, according to MHR.

Iran conducted its first successful space launch in February 2009, placing the Omid (Hope) store-and-forward communications satellite into orbit. The satellite reentered in April 2009. Russia launched Iran’s first satellite, Sina-1, in 2005.

In a stinging story in the Washington Times today, retired Foreign Service officer John Tkacik said that it is unlikely President Obama “can count on ‘cooperation’ with China in space — except on China’s terms.” Indeed, he concludes that “The atrophying U.S. space program suggests that America will be forced to cooperate with China in space, or else cede the high frontier of space to China altogether.”

Claiming that China’s space program has all the scientific and engineering talent and funding it needs, Tkacik praises China for its “imaginative and capable aerospace engineers” and its “combination of financial wealth, educational excellence, [and] advanced technology” while criticizing its “penchant for plundering intellectual property” and for proliferating missile technology. As for the U.S. space program he offers only withering complaint, saying that it is in a “suppliant posture” vis a vis China.

Mr. Tkacik was chief of China analysis in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research during the Clinton administration. Whether his goal is to kick the White House and Congress into strengthening NASA’s human space flight program, to derail White House attempts to open the doors of space cooperation to China, to add his voice to those who are attempting to instigate a U.S-China “space race,” or some combination of those, is unclear.

Russian space agency head Anatoly Perminov reportedly is leading an effort to plan an international asteroid deflection mission. Voice of Russia and other news sources quote Perminov as saying that Russia wants to launch a mission to the asteroid Apophis that could divert it from a potential collision with Earth in 2036 (Voice of Russia mistakenly says 2032). Perminov reportedly wants experts from other countries, including the United States, Europe and China to join the project.

Alarm about the possibility that Apophis might hit Earth was quelled by NASA analysis in 2009 showing a much reduced chance of such a catastrophe. Initial reports of a 2.9% probability of a collision in 2029 have been completely refuted, but a small chance of a collision in 2036 remains. Originally the likelihood of a 2036 collision was calculated at one in 45,000, but NASA now estimates it at four-in-a-million.

The National Research Council is currently studying better methods to discover and track Near Earth Objects (NEOs) — asteroids and comets — and how to mitigate the hazards they pose. Its report is expected soon.

South Korea will try again to launch a satellite into Earth orbit using its KSLV-1 rocket by June 2010 according to the head of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

Lee Joo-jin told the Yonhap News Agency that a final report on the failure of its first attempt earlier this year is expected by the end of January. The KSLV-1, or Naro-1, is a joint development effort with Russia. The South Korean-built second stage is believed to have been the cause of the August failure, when a fairing failed to separate properly. South Korea also is developing its own launch vehicle, KSLV-2. The country’s plans for space exploration include sending a spacecraft to orbit the Moon in 2020 and another to land on the Moon in 2025, according to Lee.

At a space policy workshop in Mexico City last month, space policy-makers from six Latin American and Caribbean countries agreed to identify common elements in their space policies to facilitate international cooperation. The workshop, Space Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Looking to the Future, was sponsored by the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRECTEALC) and the Secure World Foundation. It brought together space policy-makers from Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, The Netherlands, United States of America, and Venezuela, according to a SWF news release today.

SWF Executive Director Ray Williamson was quoted as saying that smaller Latin American countries are interested in space because of the benefits they can derive from space applications for health, resource management and education, and for the development of high tech industry. The Secretary General of CRECTEALC, Dr. Sergio Camacho, a former Director of the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs, reportedly said that international cooperation is a way for countries to develop space capabilities more quickly: “‘Such participation is facilitated when [a country’s] national space legislation is aligned with the international outer space treaties. Furthermore, cooperation is facilitated when countries have compatible space policies and goals,’ Camacho said.”

At a joint press conference with President Obama today, Indian Prime Minister Singh announced that “We have decided to give a fresh impetus to collaboration in the fields of education, agriculture, and health. We will deepen our ongoing cooperation in frontier areas of science and technology, nuclear power, and space. This will open new opportunities for our universities and laboratories, and create human capital to meet the global needs of the future.”

The announcement follows on a pledge of increased U.S.-Chinese space cooperation when President Obama was in China last week. As news reports surrounding Prime Minister Singh’s visit to Washington indicate, the Indian-Chinese rivalry in that region of the world requires the United States to tread a fine line in its dealings with each of them.

At an event on Capitol Hill this week, the Space Foundation released a white paper on “Solutions from Space: Space Applications for International Development.” Citing communications satellites and remote sensing satellites in particular, the paper connects satellites with meeting the needs of developing countries.

“Space systems, particularly communications satellites and remote sensing satellites, have the potential to play a large role in these efforts. Communications satellites can connect remote areas, allowing the spread of information, whether for medical purposes, education, or disaster relief. Remote sensing satellites allow rapid collection of data about large areas of land – information that is essential to creating models for predicting and preventing famine or disease. Remote sensing can also be used to monitor conflicts or natural disasters and help identify where aid is needed most. Developed nations should work with developing nations to create these capabilities.”

The paper, written by Space Foundation research analyst Mariel John, offers a broad range of recommendations for governments, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on how to work together to use space as a solution to problems affecting developing countries.