Hwacha

In this episode, we focus on the Hwacha, a remarkable 15th-century Korean “fire cart” that demonstrates the early roots of rocket propulsion and missile warfare, exploring how this innovative weapon—capable of launching hundreds of rocket-propelled arrows simultaneously—played a decisive defensive role during the Battle of Haengju, where a vastly outnumbered force successfully repelled an invasion, and connecting its practical battlefield impact to the broader evolution of missile technology, from historical experimentation to the mathematical and engineering principles that underpin modern precision-guided weapons.