Solid-fuel space launch vehicle

Mir
Function	Small-lift launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Agency for Defense Development
Country of origin	South Korea
Size
Height	-
Diameter	-
Mass	-
Stages	4
Launch history
Status	In development
Launch sites	Anheung Proving Ground; Barge, waters south of Jeju Island;
Total launches	3 (test vehicles)
Success(es)	3 (test vehicles)
First flight	30 March 2022 (TV1)
Last flight	4 December 2023 (TV2) (most recent)

Mir (Korean: 미르)^[1]^[2]^[3], commonly referred to by the abbreviation GYŪB (Korean: Goche Yeonlyo Uju Balsache or 고체연료 우주발사체), is an orbital booster developed by the state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD). It is based on solid propellant stages, with a liquid-fuel post‑boost stage (PBS), designed to deploy small satellites—particularly synthetic aperture radar (SAR) reconnaissance payloads—into low Earth orbit as part of the country's independent space-based surveillance capability.^[4]

ADD plans the first launch of a complete version of the launcher, capable of placing a one-ton satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit, in 2027. By 2032, the military expects to have a version capable of placing 7 tonnes into a sun-synchronous orbit and 3.7 tonnes into a geostationary transfer orbit.^[4]^[5]

Technical details

The rocket has three solid‑fuel stages, followed by a liquid‑fueled fourth "post‑boost" stage (PBS) to enable precise payload deployment.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] The first stage is mentioned to produce "a thrust that is one-and-a-half times stronger than North Korea’s solid-fuel engines", or around 245 tones.^[10] The second stage produces 75 tons of thrust. The GYŪB‑TV2 version, launched in December 2023, had an estimated take-off thrust of 170 tonnes with the capacity to place 700 kilograms in low orbit.^[11]^[6]

GYŪB orbital launcher versions^[6]^[11]
Version	Year	1st stage	2nd stage	3rd stage	4th stage	Thrust (t)	Payload to sun-synchronous orbit (t)	Payload to geostationary transfer orbit (t)
GYŪB TV2	2023	Active	-	Active	Active	170	.7
GYŪB	2027	Active	Active	Active	Active		1
unnamed	2032						7	3.7

Flight history

Two suborbital launches of a version called TV1 (Test Vehicle 1), comprising only the last three stages, were carried out in 2022 from Anhueng.^[6] TV2 is an incomplete version of the final launch vehicle, consisting of only the 1st, 3rd, and 4th stages. It was launched on December 4, 2023, from a barge off Jeju Island.^[6]^[7]^[9]^[11]

March 2022: GYŪB‑TV1 (1) - First suborbital test using a live stage 2, a inert stage 3, and a live PBS.^[6]
December 2022: GYŪB‑TV1 (1)- Second suborbital flight with live stage 2, 3 and PBS.^[6]
December 4, 2023: GYŪB‑TV2 - First orbital launch, using stage 1, stage 3 and PBS, successfully placing a 100 kg SAR satellite ("Doory‑Sat" built by Hanwha Systems) into a 650 km orbit.^[6]^[7]^[9]^[11]

References

↑ "군, 고체추진 우주발사체 '미르호' 시험 발사 연기". KBS 뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2026-06-30.
↑ "고체연료 발사체 '미르호' 4차 발사 순연…"1단 추진체 이상 추정"(종합)". 뉴스1 (in Korean). 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-06-30.
↑ "軍, 고체연료 발사체 '미르호' 4차 발사 순연". 동아일보 (in Korean). 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-06-30.
1 2 "GYUB (South Korean Solid Fueled LV)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
↑ Marín, Daniel (2023-12-06). "Nuevos lanzadores de Corea del Sur y de Corea del Norte: TV2 vs Chollima 1". Eureka (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-07-25.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "GYUB (South Korean Solid Fueled LV)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
1 2 3 LEE, MICHAEL (December 4, 2023). "South Korea successfully launches solid-fuel space rocket with satellite". Korea JoongAng Daily.
↑ Kim, Hyung-Jin (Jul 28, 2020). "South Korea to have solid-fuel rockets in major deal with US". Defense News.
1 2 3 Eun-jung, Kim (December 4, 2023). "S. Korea successfully conducts third test flight of solid-fuel space rocket". Yonhap News Agency.
↑ "Military: S. Korea's Solid-fuel Space Rocket Has Thrust 1.5 Times Stronger than N. Korea's Solid-fuel Engine". KBS. 2023-12-04.
1 2 3 4 Marín, Daniel (2023-12-06). "Nuevos lanzadores de Corea del Sur y de Corea del Norte: TV2 vs Chollima 1". Eureka (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-07-25.

[1] "군, 고체추진 우주발사체 '미르호' 시험 발사 연기". KBS 뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2026-06-30.

[2] "고체연료 발사체 '미르호' 4차 발사 순연…"1단 추진체 이상 추정"(종합)". 뉴스1 (in Korean). 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-06-30.

[3] "軍, 고체연료 발사체 '미르호' 4차 발사 순연". 동아일보 (in Korean). 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-06-30.

[:02-4] 1 2 "GYUB (South Korean Solid Fueled LV)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2025-07-24.

[:32-5] Marín, Daniel (2023-12-06). "Nuevos lanzadores de Corea del Sur y de Corea del Norte: TV2 vs Chollima 1". Eureka (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-07-25.

[:0-6] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "GYUB (South Korean Solid Fueled LV)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2025-07-24.

[:1-7] 1 2 3 LEE, MICHAEL (December 4, 2023). "South Korea successfully launches solid-fuel space rocket with satellite". Korea JoongAng Daily.

[8] Kim, Hyung-Jin (Jul 28, 2020). "South Korea to have solid-fuel rockets in major deal with US". Defense News.

[:2-9] 1 2 3 Eun-jung, Kim (December 4, 2023). "S. Korea successfully conducts third test flight of solid-fuel space rocket". Yonhap News Agency.

[10] "Military: S. Korea's Solid-fuel Space Rocket Has Thrust 1.5 Times Stronger than N. Korea's Solid-fuel Engine". KBS. 2023-12-04.

[:3-11] 1 2 3 4 Marín, Daniel (2023-12-06). "Nuevos lanzadores de Corea del Sur y de Corea del Norte: TV2 vs Chollima 1". Eureka (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-07-25.

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Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S 2^† Chollima-1 Electron Eris^† Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H3 HANBIT-NANO^† Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 2 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 6C 7 7A 8 10B 11 11H 12 12A 12B LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C New Glenn Nuri OS-M1^† Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB Soyuz-5 Spectrum^† SSLV Starship Tianlong 2 3^† Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2E 3
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Blue Whale 1 Cyclone-4M Deca Eclipse Epsilon S Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Kinetica 2H 3 KSLV-III Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 10A Miura 5 Neutron New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Pallas-1 RFA One SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R VLM Vega E Zero Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIA H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pegasus XL Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 2-1v Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 RS1^† Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^† 2
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)