“How do you do? I’m Nam Sanggi, chairman of KD Techwin.”
“Yes. How do you do, Chairman? I’m Kim Seokhun, head of the Nuri launch vehicle research team.”
“I hear you’re no longer the team leader?”
“Ah, yes. Though I hardly deserve it, I’ve been asked to serve as director until the sixth launch.”
“Congratulations. Haha. In truth, our methane engine unit performed remarkably during this fifth launch.”
“Not at all. It fell far short…”
“How can anyone be full after the first spoonful? Still, in the past, reusable launch vehicles felt like some vague technology from an alien civilization, but now it feels as though we’ve caught up by a great stride. It’s all thanks to your spirit of challenge, Dr. Kim.”
Seoul Grand Hotel.
Nam Sanggi and Kim Seokhun, who had come to the meeting, exchanged pleasantries and shook hands.
Even Dr. Kim, who looked as if he knew nothing but studying, seemed slightly nervous before the chairman of a conglomerate. Well, the fifth launch had been led by KD Techwin, and he’d turned that rocket worth hundreds of billions into fireworks, so he must have felt quite apologetic.
“Yes, Chairman, this way.”
Soon after, the remaining company heads who had led the fifth launch appeared, and Dr. Kim exchanged pleasantries with them as well, collecting their business cards.
“Everyone’s here.”
With that, the heads of the private companies that were among Korea’s top three defense firms and had led the fifth launch were all gathered in one place.
“Ah, one person still hasn’t arrived.”
Nam Sanggi asked me,
“Is there someone else coming?”
“Yes. In a way, he’s the most important person.”
“By important… do you mean someone from the government?”
“He’s far more important than that.”
“More important than that…? Who on earth is it?”
—Don’t tell me someone from the Blue House line?
Leaving the barrage of questions behind, I grinned and passed out the papers one by one.
“We’ll get to that in time. First, let’s talk about this. The failure and achievements of Nuri’s fifth launch.”
At the mention of Nuri, which had gone up in a blaze of glory last month, the atmosphere turned solemn again.
“The results of the debris investigation are all in the papers I just handed out. It was exactly as we first expected. During the re-landing process, the launch vehicle failed to recognize its destination, judged it to be a danger, and activated the detonator.”
—Yes… it was difficult.
I turned my head toward Dr. Kim.
“Doctor. Please give us a cold, professional diagnosis. What needs to be supplemented for the sixth launch to improve?”
Dr. Kim took a sip of tea and spoke calmly.
“For now, we learned one important thing.”
“What is that?”
“Why the re-landing process is so difficult. Every system has to remain under control until the launch vehicle re-lands on the barge. If it deviates from that control even slightly, the launch vehicle will recognize it as a danger and activate the detonator.”
It is an extremely sensitive technology.
If it strays from central control even for a moment, the system determines it to be dangerous and self-destructs.
It truly is technology that seems to belong to an alien civilization. A launch vehicle that departed from a barge must safely separate in its first orbit, then return from that orbit back to the barge. For reference, there are only a handful of countries capable of succeeding in first-stage separation itself with their own technology.
And yet how did SpaceX make it come back as well?
“Taken as a whole, it ultimately comes down to a lack of technological capability. Guidance control systems, precision aviation systems, and the like all have to support it comprehensively. Only then will it come back like a boomerang.”
“Doctor, then by the sixth launch, will there be improvements to this technology?”
“Frankly speaking, I’m not sure… We have found the wrong answer, but solving it won’t be easy.”
My fist clenched with force.
The fifth experiment had merely uncovered one wrong answer. But would this be the only problem we got wrong? What remained now was to fill this notebook of wrong answers to the brim, then supplement, supplement, and supplement until we reached completion… and that was a process painful enough to draw groans.
—Dr. Kim, then what about just removing the detonator entirely? Even communications with space stations get cut off once in a while. This is too much.
“…That won’t do. China’s Long March 3 once failed to launch, and because it didn’t detonate, it fell on a civilian area. In effect, they were hit directly by a missile.”
—We can’t remove the detonator…? Then what do we need most right now?
“Talent. Talent capable of developing this navigation system and guidance control device. But to attract that talent, we ultimately have to pay them what they’re worth… So in the end, I think the budget is the biggest issue.”
At the mention of money, the conglomerate chairmen each shook their heads.
They were all people with the thickest wallets in the Republic of Korea, but this was on a distant scale. Just listening to it, weren’t these the kind of budgets where hundreds of billions would vanish in an instant?
As everyone was only sighing, Chairman Nam of KD asked,
“Dr. Kim. Then if improvements are made to Nuri’s guidance control device and navigation system, are there any other ripple effects we can expect?”
“Are you asking whether it can be applied to other technologies?”
“Yes. To be honest, from a company’s perspective, we can’t just pour hundreds of billions into space alone. Like how the microwave oven was invented in the course of war, there needs to be some kind of profit model. Only then can we endure an investment with no promise of return.”
Understanding his meaning, Dr. Kim smiled cautiously.
“It will improve overwhelmingly.”
“…What?”
“If the guidance control device and navigation system are improved, the precision strike capability of our missiles will improve overwhelmingly. If the current error range of our missiles is 100, it will be reduced by at least 50.”
The recent trend in the defense industry is not firepower, but precision.
In the past, because it was difficult to cut down a single tree, they burned down the forest. Now, highly advanced guided-precision technology cuts down exactly that one tree.
The decapitation operations frequently carried out by the United States and Israel best demonstrate the current trend in defense.
“Ahem, hm.”
“Hm, hm.”
Coughs fluttered here and there.
Wasn’t everyone gathered here a national representative of the defense industry? If technology developed for Nuri not only helped the space industry but also raised the precision of our missiles, it was worth gritting their teeth and investing in.
“Excuse me, are you Mr. Lee, who called?”
Just as that long silence flowed on, “he,” the true protagonist of today’s gathering, appeared.
“That’s right. Are you Mr. Rahim?”
“Yes, pleased to meet you. You’re much younger than I expected. From what I heard from Sharma, I thought you’d be around middle-aged. Haha.”
“Is that so? Haha.”
As the chairmen’s gazes gathered in one place, I introduced him.
“Ah, I’m late with the introductions. This is CEO Rahim of the space startup company Akash. He also worked at SpaceX once.”
“Haha, it was just one project ten years ago. No need to make much of it.”
“One project? Even now, aren’t you practically an unofficial member of NASA and SpaceX?”
“How embarrassing. I’m just a small-time operator barely making a living off the outsourced jobs they give me.”
Rahim smiled awkwardly and offered his hand to our chairmen.
“I’m Rahim.”
*
Akash, a space startup rare even in Silicon Valley.
This company, which specializes in developing launch vehicles, was growing its presence by nearly monopolizing outsourced work from NASA and SpaceX.
Of course, outsourced work didn’t mean the entirety of a launch vehicle. If compared to a car, it was work on the level of wheels or glass coating, but in that one area, it was a company that had a firm monopoly.
“How do you do? I’m Dr. Kim Seokhun.”
The reason I remembered him was because of a memory from the past.
If my memory was correct, reusable launch vehicles would be developed in the order of the United States, China, and India, and one of the members who had made a brilliant contribution to that development was Rahim of Akash. The fact that I had managed to reach him through CEO Sharma’s connections was truly a stroke of heavenly luck.
“Ah! So you’re that doctor!”
“You know me?”
“How could I not? Korea’s fifth Nuri launch has been receiving rave reviews in the industry.”
“…It ended in failure, though.”
“SpaceX failed dozens of times before succeeding with a reusable launch vehicle. But those weren’t failures. They realized one more way that didn’t work.”
“That’s a little comforting to hear. Haha.”
“But when did you develop the methane engine unit? Seeing how you switched from kerosene to methane, has the Korean government already been researching reusable launch vehicles for years?”
As expected, like attracts like.
The two engineers chatted about each other’s achievements in alien jargon I couldn’t understand.
“Wow, that really is remarkable. Is the Korean government saying it will test methane again during the sixth launch?”
“A reusable launch vehicle is our destiny, after all. Once the launch cost goes down, the payload weight can be reached anytime.”
“An excellent way of thinking. Korea is truly an enviable country. If only India could follow even half as well…”
“Hasn’t India already landed at the lunar south pole with Chandra? In terms of technological capability, India should be far ahead of Korea.”
“What good does that do? All the usable talent is busy running away to the United States. Though as one of them, I suppose I have nothing to say.”
Rahim smiled bitterly.
“In any case, as someone in the industry, I sincerely support Korea’s technological leap forward. If you keep at it, someday you’ll get there.”
“Thank you.”
Seizing the gap after their chat ended, I carefully cut in.
“CEO Rahim. Thank you for taking such an interest in Korea’s space technology. In truth, the reason we invited you here today is…”
“Yes. I came prepared. But let me give you my answer first.”
He moistened his throat with a sip of water and said,
“It’s impossible.”
“…Pardon?”
“I know why you called me here, but it is an impossible matter. Our company does not have technology that can help Korea, and even if you were introduced to former SpaceX employees through me, you would never be able to obtain that technology.”
His face was extremely firm.
“If reusable launch vehicle technology were something you could obtain by recruiting a few former SpaceX or NASA employees, why would China still have failed to commercialize it?”
“CEO Rahim.”
“In truth, if it hadn’t been for Sharma’s earnest request, I wouldn’t even have come here. I’m sorry I can’t help you.”