South Korea’s space agency reveals new aerospace industry development plan in February

Yoon Young-bin, head of the Aerospace Agency, delivers a congratulatory speech at the New Year’s gathering of aerospace professionals held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Jan. 17. Yonhap

The national space agency plans to unveil its road map aimed at bolstering South Korea’s aerospace capabilities next month, its chief said Friday.

Yoon Young-bin, head of the Korean AeroSpace Administration (KASA), announced the plan at an event for the new year attended by aerospace industry officials.

“We will devise a road map on laying the foundation for a private-led aerospace economy, which will include projects to develop space vehicles, such as Nuri space rockets, future-oriented aircraft and advanced satellites, as part of efforts to bolster the local space industry’s competitiveness in the global market,” he said.

“Competition in the global aerospace industry is heating up with the advent of emerging powers and the acceleration of private-led growth.”

In detail, KASA plans to come up with measures to develop indigenous technologies for reusable rockets and aircraft gas turbine engines.

It will also create a detailed business plan for setting up the world’s first space observatory in L4, one of the stable Lagrange points, according to Yoon.

Lagrange points, which are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system like the sun and Earth create areas of stability, allowing spacecraft to conduct exploration missions with minimal fuel consumption. (Yonhap)