Korean Air partners with France's Exotrail to build space taxis for satellites

Kim Kyung-nam, left, vice president of Korean Air Aerospace Technology Research Institute, and Jean-Luc Maria, CEO of Exotrail, sign a memorandum of understanding at the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Korean Air

Korean Air said Friday it signed a memorandum of understanding with French space mobility company Exotrail to cooperate on orbital transfer vehicle services.

The signing ceremony was held at the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul hotel in Yeouido, Thursday.

Under the agreement, the two companies will collaborate on advanced space services, including low Earth orbit satellite transportation and payload hosting, multiorbit satellite deployment, and satellite life extension and refueling. They plan to form a joint working group to begin detailed discussions on launch plans and optimizing orbital transportation costs.

Central to that effort are orbital transfer vehicles, designed to carry small satellites released from a larger launch vehicle to their precise target orbits — what the industry often calls “last-mile” delivery in space.

After deployment, such vehicles can also support stable satellite operations through in-orbit services, including orbital correction, life extension, refueling and payload hosting.

Demand for cluster launches of small satellites has risen sharply, increasing the importance of these vehicles, which can transport multiple satellites on a single launch and deploy them to different orbits. As a result, they are drawing growing attention across the space industry as a way to improve deployment efficiency.

Korean Air said it has accumulated years of experience in launch vehicles and satellites and has developed technologies for mission control systems and space structures tailored to orbital transport missions. Exotrail, for its part, is seeking to use the partnership to establish a strategic foothold in the Asian market.

The airline said the collaboration will allow it to capture demand from both defense-related small satellite programs and the commercial satellite market, while expanding its space transportation business.

The initiative follows Korean Air’s launch last year of a development program for a methane engine for a 35-ton-class reusable launch vehicle. With the addition of orbital transfer services, the company said it is building an integrated space transportation model spanning launch vehicle development through in-orbit operations.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.