Korea ups investment to self-produce parts in space development

SEOUL — South Korea’s Science Ministry on Monday said that it will inject 211 billion won ($170 million) into space research to help the nation’s space industry produce key parts of launch vehicles and satellites.

The Ministry of Science and ICT’s “Space Pioneer” research project passed a feasibility study Monday, which approved the investment of 211 billion won from 2021 to 2030.

The ministry will provide 58 billion won in the launch vehicle area and 137 billion won in the satellite area, it said.

South Korea has been importing a lot of parts and components when producing launch vehicles and satellites, and there has not been a lot of investment in recent years, the ministry said.

When the nation made a multi-purpose satellite in 2012, 64 percent of the parts were domestically produced, while the rest were procured from other nations. In the current satellite development project, 65 percent of parts are domestically produced.

“The nation’s long reliance on imported parts has been a major reason that the projects required longer periods of time and larger budgets (than otherwise),” the ICT Ministry said.