Korea, US join hands to develop payloads for lunar lander

Choi Young-jun, right, director of the space science division of KASI poses with Choi Won-ho, center, director of the space, nuclear & big science policy bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Steven Clarke, deputy associate administrator for exploration programs and platforms, at the Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT

By Baek Byung-yeul

Korea has joined hands with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to co-develop payloads for lunar landers, the country's space science institute said Tuesday.

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) said it signed a partnership with the NASA to cooperate on prospective future space exploration programs and platforms.

NASA recently announced a plan to land at the South Pole of the moon in 2024 for scientific research. The U.S. space agency also plans to develop lunar payloads with U.S. firms and foreign partners.

Under the agreement, KASI and NASA will launch an exploration science working group. “The working group will explore possibilities for cooperation between the two agencies through exploration science opportunities,” the Ministry of Science and ICT said.

The working group will meet once a year and their initial focus will be scientific opportunities relating to lunar orbiting, the lunar surface and cis-lunar space.

The science ministry said the agreement was made possible as the two agencies have had prior scientific partnerships. The two also successfully launched a working group on heliophysics, which is the study of how the sun affects space and the environment of planets.

The ministry said the Korean side of the working group will have experts from KASI, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and the Korea Institute of Geoscience.