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South Korea is seeking to move up its planned 2032 lunar landing, as the government said Sunday that it hopes to complete a civilian-led rover project by 2030. The planning for the Moon lander development project has been selected as a target for the preliminary feasibility study by a recent review committee for state projects, according to the Korea Aerospace Administration and its affiliated Ministry of Science and ICT. The plan supports the civilian sector’s development of a rover that will land on the Moon by 2030. The review process assesses the necessity, feasibility, requirements and other elements related to government projects, and effectively launches the plan to make Korea the fifth nation to complete a soft landing on the moon. The plan, if confirmed, will run parallel with the ongoing lunar lander mission by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute to be completed by 2032. Officials of the KAA said in addition to the government project, a civilian-led project is being pushed to motivate companies’ contributions to lunar and deep space exploration. Companies selected for the project will be entrusted with the entire process of the lunar landing mission, from designing the spacecraft to touching down on the Moon’s surface. It reportedly will use the Korean Space Launch Vehicle-II Nuri rocket, which was developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and is the first orbit launch vehicle entirely developed and manufactured in Korea. Several local corporations have thrown their hats in the ring to develop a civilian lander, according to the space agency. Multiple versions of the landing plan have been proposed, and the infrastructure for the existing space-related projects will be put to use, the KAA said. The news of the new moon lander project comes after the US Artemis 2 mission took off last Wednesday for a 10-day flyby around the moon and back to Earth. The highly anticipated launch occurred at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, renewing public and governmental interest in space programs worldwide. The Korean government’s move to involve civilian companies in its space missions is in keeping with the US and other countries, like the SpaceX program launched in 2002 by US billionaire Elon Musk. In 2024, the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander Odysseus became the first American spacecraft to conduct a soft landing on the Moon in over 50 years. submitted by /u/coinfwip4 |
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