S.Korean aerospace firms to co-work for SLV

South Korea's aerospace companies will collaborate to secure launch vehicle technology for small satellites weighing less than 500kg. 

The South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT held a signing ceremony on Tuesday for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) among companies for the integration of the Small-lift launch vehicle (SLV) core technology.

The Space Pioneer project aims to develop 16 core technologies up to the certification model stage, focusing on indigenizing technologies that are currently heavily reliant on foreign sources. The project includes the development of avionics, which takes responsibility for engine control and acts as the brain of the rocket, a lightweight propellant tank made of aluminum-lithium high-performance alloy, and umbilical equipment that supplies fuel and electricity to the launch vehicle.

The suppliers participating in the project include Danam Systems, NDT Engineering, and Hanyang ENG Co. Danam Systems possesses integrated avionics technology, while NDT Engineering is developing a common bulkhead propellant tank that combines fuel and oxidizer tanks. Hanyang ENG is working on the development of umbilical equipment.

The client companies involved in the project are Hanwha Aerospace Co., Korean Air Lines Co., Innospace, and Una Stella. Hanwha Aerospace participates as a company in charge of the repeated launch system for the KSLV-II (Nuri) launch vehicle. Korean Air is collaborating with the Air Force to develop the upper-stage engine of a small launch vehicle.

Innospace achieved a successful test launch of the Hanbit-TLV test vehicle in March this year and plans to embark on commercial launches next year. Una Stella is a startup developing a crewed space launch vehicle that can reach altitudes of up to 100 km.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com