Nuri (KSLV-II), a space launch vehicle developed entirely with domestic technology, on May 25 last year blasts off from Naro Space Center in Goheung-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province. (Korea Aerospace Research Institute)
By Yoo Yeon Gyeong
The government this year will invest KRW 992.3 billion in five missions for space development.
The Ministry of Science and ICT on March 28 said it deliberated on and finalized a 2024 plan to develop the space industry at the 49th meeting of the Space Development Committee.
The main agenda is investment of KRW 922.3 billion by categorizing space development into the five missions of exploration, transportation, industry, security and science.
The ministry will accelerate the development of lunar exploration for a moon landing by 2032, select private companies to jointly develop a next-generation launch vehicle and form a space industry cluster.
A prototype of the country’s first ultra-small constellation satellite will be launched in the first half of the year and a solar coronagraph is slated for installation on the International Space Station in the second.
“We will set up new space governance this year including the launch of the Korea Aerospace Administration,” said First Vice Minister of Science and ICT Lee Chang Yune, who also heads the committee. “This will be the time to lay the national foundation for emerging as a global power in space economy by forming a private-led space ecosystem and building a lunar lander.”
dusrud21@korea.kr
