Korean firms, labs to co-develop carbon composites for space launch vehicles

South Korea’s government, companies and research institutes have formed a consultative body to boost the country’s capacity to develop carbon composites, such as carbon fiber used in space launch vehicles.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the launch of the Carbon Composites Jump-up Partnership at the Kensington Hotel in Seoul on Thursday with the participation of First Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Jang Young-jin and officials from companies in the value chain of carbon composites and research institutes.

Demand companies include Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Korean Air, Innospace, Babs, and JPI Healthcare, while supply companies include Hyosung Advanced Materials, POSCO Future M, Jeio, and Charmgraphene.

Research organizations such as the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, and Korea Institute of Materials Science also joined the partnership.

Carbon composites are materials with lightweight and high-strength physical properties, including carbon fiber, activated carbon, artificial graphite, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

Among these, carbon fiber is used for urban air mobility (UAM) and space launch vehicles, and carbon nanotubes used as core materials for high-tech industries such as electric vehicle batteries.

Under the partnership, the companies that demand carbon composites will share the products and development schedules they plan to develop over the next few years, and suppliers will develop the materials and components needed for those products based on the information.

In this regard, the plan is to create a comprehensive roadmap for technology development within this year, starting with carbon composites for the aerospace field.