Seoul, July 3 (IANS) South Korea aims to establish a low-Earth orbit satellite communications network composed of hundreds of satellites by 2035 and accelerate the country’s first lunar landing to 2030, the state-run space agency said on Friday.

The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) unveiled the plan during a public briefing on advanced industry development held in the southeastern city of Jinju. The strategy was approved earlier in the day by the National Space Council, chaired by President Lee Jae Myung, reports Yonhap news agency.

KASA said building the network will help strengthen South Korea’s domestic satellite and launch vehicle development and manufacturing ecosystem as the country pushes to build its own version of SpaceX’s Starlink network.

“Leading space nations are making all-out efforts to build low-Earth orbit satellite communications networks, which are critical infrastructure for safeguarding national security and communications sovereignty, as well as a strategic foundation for the 6G era,” KASA Administrator Oh Tae-seok said.

KASA also aims to bring forward South Korea’s first lunar landing to 2030, two years ahead of schedule.

Instead of waiting for the next-generation launch vehicle, which is scheduled to debut in 2032, the government plans to send a privately developed small lunar lander aboard the three-stage Nuri rocket in 2030.

Oh also said South Korea plans to launch a lunar communications orbiter in 2029 and an Earth-moon scientific exploration probe in 2031 to lay the groundwork for an expanded lunar exploration programme.

Meanwhile, South Korea planned to dispatch a public-private delegation to Europe in a bid to broaden cooperation in the space sector with European nations. The delegation, jointly organised by the foreign ministry and the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), was set to hold a series of “Space Day” events in Belgium, Romania and Poland.

The dispatch was designed to boost space cooperation with members of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as key Eastern European countries.

–IANS

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