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South Korea’s new space agency said Thursday it was looking to grow its share of the industry and take on Elon Musk’s SpaceX, as it unveiled plans to create a “space passageway”.<\/p>\n
The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) opened in May with the goal of turning the land of K-pop into a new space powerhouse, following the United States, Russia, and China.<\/p>\n
Seoul, which is also locked in a space race with the nuclear-armed North, has said it has goals of landing a homegrown probe on the moon by 2032, and eventually getting to Mars.<\/p>\n
KASA said Thursday it was looking to build an entire space transport system, including a “space passageway”, to take on market leaders SpaceX, owned by Musk.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to make the aerospace industry a core industry, and we’re aiming for a 10 percent global market share by 2045,” Yoon Young-bin, administrator of KASA, told reporters at a press conference.<\/p>\n
Currently, transport rates for SpaceX range around $2,000 to $3,000 per kilogram, with many countries using them to get people or supplies to the International Space Station, and put satellites into orbit.<\/p>\n
“We aim to reduce the cost of space transport within low Earth orbit to below $1,000 per kilogram,” said Yoon.<\/p>\n
KASA also said they aim to construct a space observatory, in part to improve space weather forecasting to help with a future bid to get to Mars, said John Lee, KASA vice administrator of Mission Directorates.<\/p>\n
Modeled after the United States’ NASA, KASA says it will act as an “aerospace control tower”, overseeing aerospace policy, satellite development and space missions, including moon exploration.<\/p>\n
South Korea sent up its first lunar orbiter, Danuri, in 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon rocket.<\/p>\n
It also successfully launched its homegrown Nuri rocket and placed working satellites into orbit last year after two failed attempts.<\/p>\n
Seoul is now gearing up for its fourth launch of the Nuri rocket in the second half of 2025.<\/p>\n
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