Aerospace Administration to Invest 806.4 Billion KRW in R&D Projects in 2025

Implementation Plan Finalized and Announced:
1.478 Trillion KRW Invested in Advancement of Korean Launch Vehicle and Related Projects

The Korea Aerospace Agency will invest a total of 806.4 billion KRW in 44 detailed projects this year, including 147.8 billion KRW for the advancement of the Korean launch vehicle and 150.8 billion KRW for the development of the next-generation launch vehicle.

The agency finalized the "2025 Korea Aerospace Agency R&D Project Implementation Plan" reflecting these details and announced the schedule for new projects and tasks on its website on the 22nd.

Aerial view of the Space Aviation Agency. Photo by Yonhap News

This year's R&D support budget of 806.4 billion KRW is the amount excluding basic expenses and security budgets from the 964.9 billion KRW Korea Aerospace Agency budget for 2025, representing a 43.3% increase (243.7 billion KRW) from last year's 562.7 billion KRW.

The Aerospace Mission Headquarters will actively promote projects such as the 4th launch of Nuriho, large satellite launches, lunar landers, and the commencement of basic design for next-generation launch vehicles to expand space territory.

Projects supported include the Korean launch vehicle advancement project (147.8 billion KRW), next-generation launch vehicle development (150.8 billion KRW), small launch vehicle development capability support (4 billion KRW), innovative reusable launch vehicle core technology development (new, 5 billion KRW), aerospace key technology development (new, 3 billion KRW), and new project exploratory research (9.7 billion KRW).

To prepare for disasters and calamities, the agency will develop world-class advanced satellites and secure core technologies, providing stable ultra-precise PNT (Position, Navigation, Timing) information through the development of ultra-precise navigation satellites. Projects include ultra-small satellite swarm system development (24.9 billion KRW), geostationary public multi-purpose communication satellite development (35 billion KRW), next-generation medium satellite development (19 billion KRW), next-generation synthetic aperture radar (SAR) core technology preliminary development (new, 2 billion KRW), low Earth orbit satellite communication technology development (new, 11.3 billion KRW), and geostationary meteorological and space weather satellite development projects (new, 5 billion KRW).

In cooperation with NASA, the agency plans to launch the Lunar Space Environment Monitor (LUSEM) to be mounted on a private lunar lander. To this end, it will invest in the international joint research project for private lunar lander payloads (7.3 billion KRW) and the second phase of lunar exploration (lunar lander development) project (45 billion KRW).

Additionally, 187.4 billion KRW will be allocated for research operation and facility costs of directly managed research institutes such as the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, as well as 4.9 billion KRW for the Space Challenge and 7 billion KRW for training specialized personnel in the space sector.

A Korea Aerospace Agency official stated, "With the opening of the Trump 2.0 era intensifying the space aerospace hegemony competition between the U.S. and China, we have established the R&D project implementation plan to achieve the national mission of advancing the aerospace industry as the next-generation growth engine."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.