The South Korean government announced Tuesday it has decided to postpone the launch of its first home-built space launch vehicle Nuri by eight months due to complications in the assembly process.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said the launch of the three-stage rocket with a mock payload will take place in October next year, during an online press conference held Tuesday. The launch with an actual satellite will also be postponed to May 2022 accordingly.

The ICT Ministry explained the delay is largely due to complications in the building process of the first-stage rocket, which will consist of four 75-ton cluster engines. The ministry added the assembly is expected to take longer than initially planned as it chose to make changes in the process and rocket parts.

Since 2010, South Korea has injected around 1.9 trillion won ($1.74 billion) into the development of a locally built space launch vehicle and a 1.5-ton utility satellite.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute has been responsible for this project.

Meanwhile, the government separately announced it will start working on another launch of a public communications satellite, through which the government aims to improve the nation’s safety and disaster management system. The government would invest a total of 411.8 billion won, with the aim of launching the geostationary satellite by 2027.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)