South Korea plans low-orbit satellite network and earlier moon landing

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South Korea's Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) announced a strategy approved by the National Space Council to build a low-Earth orbit communications network of hundreds of satellites by 2035 and to bring forward the nation's first lunar landing to 2030. The government plans to send a privately developed small lunar lander on the three-stage Nuri rocket in 2030 rather than wait for a next-generation launch vehicle due in 2032, and will launch a lunar communications orbiter in 2029 plus an Earth-moon scientific probe in 2031. KASA says the program will bolster domestic manufacturing and safeguard communications sovereignty for the 6G era.

South Korea brings forward its first lunar landing to 2030.