Chollima-1 () is a North Korean
launch vehicle
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...
. It will be used by
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
to launch satellites into orbit. The rocket is launched from a coastal launch platform in the
Sohae Satellite Launching Station
Sohae Satellite Launching Station (, also known as Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center and Pongdong-ri) is a rocket launching site in Tongch'ang-ri, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. The base is located among hills close to ...
. The rocket has been developed to compete with the
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
n
Nuri
Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the west side of the Nile River, Nile, near the Fourth Cataract. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, Sudan, Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal.
History
Nuri is the second of three Napatan bur ...
rocket.
Description

Chollima-1 is a three-stage rocket. This new rocket, based on images released by North Korea, appears to be a different launcher from those of the previous
Unha
The Unha (, "Galaxy") is a North Korean expendable launch system, expendable launch vehicle, carrier rocket, which partially utilizes the same delivery system as the Taepodong-2 orbital launch system.
History
North Korea's first orbital space ...
family. It appears to be abandoning the Scud heritage and take a design based on the recent
Hwasong-15
The Hwasong-15 () is an intercontinental ballistic missile developed by North Korea. It had its maiden flight on 28 November 2017, around 3 a.m. local time. It is the first ballistic missile developed by North Korea that is theoretically capabl ...
and
17 ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
s with advanced rocket engines based on the suspiciously acquired Soviet
RD-250
The RD-250 (, GRAU index: 8D518) is the base version of a dual-nozzle family of liquid-fuel rocket engines, burning a hypergolic mixture of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) fuel with dinitrogen tetroxide () oxidizer in a gas-generator ope ...
. According to
38 North
''38 North'' is a website devoted to analysis about North Korea. Its name refers to the 38th parallel north which passes through the Korean peninsula and from 1945 until the start of the Korean War in 1950 divided the peninsula into North and So ...
, the Chollima-1's first stage is based on the Hwasong-17.
Although the capabilities of the launch vehicle are not public, Chollima-1 appears to be a
medium-lift launch vehicle
A medium-lift launch vehicle (MLV) is a rocket launch vehicle that is capable of lifting between by NASA classification or between by Russian classification of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).50t payloads" An MLV is between a small-lift ...
for launching
small satellite
A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites c ...
s into
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
, and the payload mass for its maiden flight was estimated to be around to .
Similarly, analysts believe that if North Korea still manages to supply itself with foreign components despite the sanctions, it manages to increasingly master local construction, becoming autonomous.
History
On 30 May 2023, Chollima-1 made its first orbital launch attempt, from
Sohae Satellite Launching Station
Sohae Satellite Launching Station (, also known as Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center and Pongdong-ri) is a rocket launching site in Tongch'ang-ri, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. The base is located among hills close to ...
, carrying the military reconnaissance satellite
Malligyong-1
Malligyong-1 () is a type of North Korean reconnaissance satellite.
The mission's first two launch attempts failed, with the third one succeeding on 21 November 2023. This was also the first successful flight of North Korea's new launch vehicle, ...
. However, the launch failed to achieve orbit when the second stage ignited too early in the mission, due to engine unreliability and fuel instability according to officials. The launch vehicle crashed into the
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea.
Names
It is one of four ...
.
The
South Korean Ministry of National Defense identified and recovered an object that appears to be a rocket stage or an
interstage in the sea about west of Eocheong Island.
This debris, identified as being the second stage of the launcher, nevertheless sank, complicating its recovery. Other recovery operations followed for 36 days and made it possible to find the third stage of the launcher as well as the
Malligyong-1
Malligyong-1 () is a type of North Korean reconnaissance satellite.
The mission's first two launch attempts failed, with the third one succeeding on 21 November 2023. This was also the first successful flight of North Korea's new launch vehicle, ...
satellite, which were thus analyzed jointly with the United States, both to verify the origin of its components (and identify supply subsidiaries and foreign suppliers) and to assess the performance of the satellite, which was considered to be very low for military use.
Although
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
hardly ever communicates in advance about its missile tests, it does when it wants to launch satellites, to present itself as respectful space power. The country had therefore warned Japan but not
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
that it would carry out a space launch between 31 May and 11 June after having mentioned the finalization of the satellite a few weeks earlier.
However, despite the fears publicly expressed by these two countries of a possible disguised missile launch, South Korean maritime patrols were quickly set up in the fallout zones of the rocket stages, which allowed them to quickly recover debris.
However, missile alerts (sirens and SMS) were triggered in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
and
Okinawa Prefecture
is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...
by mistake.
North Korea announced a second attempt to launch a new copy of Malligyong-1 for the end of August 2023, and revealed the fallout zones of the stages. The second launch attempt took place on 23 August 2023. The launch resulted again in a failure with the loss of the satellite, this time caused by an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight. The country immediately announced a new attempt for October 2023. However, due to undisclosed technical delays the launch was later rescheduled for late November.
The third launch attempt took place on 21 November 2023 and resulted in the first successful launch of Chollima-1.
Launch history
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chollima-1
2023 in North Korea
May 2023 in Asia
Spacecraft launched in 2023
Satellite launch failures
Space program of North Korea