Hanwha Aerospace inks deal for Korea’s new launch vehicle development

[Courtesy of Hanwha Aerospace]

Hanwha Aerospace Co. announced on Thursday that it has signed a final deal worth 950.5 billion won ($695.3 million) with the Public Procurement Service to manufacture new launch vehicles for South Korea’s next-generation launch vehicle development project.

The contract signing comes just two months after the company was selected as the preferred negotiating partner in March.

The next-generation launch vehicle project is aimed at advancing the country’s capabilities for launching large satellites and conducting space exploration missions in the future.

The project’s objective is to significantly enhance payload capacity and orbital access performance compared to the Nuri, which primarily deployed satellites into low Earth orbit.

Korea’s new launch vehicle is scheduled to be launched three times starting from 2030 upon its development.

By 2032, Korea aims to launch the final model of a lunar lander as part of its space exploration endeavors.