South Korea’s space ambitions keep growing.
The nation wants to build a moon base by 2025, The Korea Times reported on Thursday (July 17), citing a long-term exploration road map that the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) laid out that same day during a hearing at the National Research Foundation of Korea in Daejeon.
That road map “outlines five core missions, including low Earth orbit and microgravity exploration, lunar exploration, and solar and space science missions,” The Korea Times wrote.
KASA, which was established just last year, aims to develop homegrown lunar landing and roving technology, as well as the ability to extract and exploit moon resources such as water ice.
Some of this work is already underway. For example, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources recently deployed prototype lunar rovers in an abandoned coal mine, testing tech that could be used for space mining down the road.
And South Korea already has some experience at and around the moon. In August 2022, the nation launched its first moon probe — called the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter or Danuri — atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Danuri reached lunar orbit four months later and is still going strong, studying the moon with its suite of instruments.
South Korea had already been aiming for the lunar surface; officials have said they want to put a robotic lander on the moon by 2032. But the newly revealed road map ups the ante. The nation plans to develop a new, presumably more capable moon lander by 2040, “with the goal of building a lunar economic base by 2045,” The Korea Times wrote.
South Korea isn’t the only nation with moon-base ambitions. The United States also plans to build one or more lunar outposts in the next decade or so, via NASA’s Artemis program. China is working toward the goal as well, in partnership with Russia and other nations. And India has said it wants to build a moon base by 2047.
The moon isn’t KASA’s only distant destination, by the way; the agency also wants to pull off South Korea’s first-ever Mars landing by 2045.
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