Korea to invest $392 mn in building lunar landing module

[Courtesy of Korea Aerospace Research Institute]

South Korea is poised to build a lunar landing module by investing approximately 530.3 billion won ($392.8 million) in the project. As part of the country’s lunar exploration program, the 1.8-toned module will begin its journey to the moon in 2032, using a next-generation launch vehicle currently under development.

The plan was unveiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT during a government committee for research and development on Monday, following a conclusion of the preliminary feasibility evaluation that began in October 2022.

The module development phase in the moon exploration initiative aims to develop an autonomous landing module capable of detecting and avoiding obstacles near the landing sites and carrying out specific missions, such as a precise soft landing. A total of 530.3 billion won will be injected into the project from the next year to 2033, which is down 88.1 billion won from the initial estimates outlined in the feasibility evaluation.

“A successful moon exploration project will foster the growth of domestic space exploration and boost international space cooperation through the accumulation of advanced technological capabilities, particularly a lunar soft-landing mission,” the ministry said in a statement.