South Korea aims to establish a low-Earth orbit satellite communications network composed of hundreds of satellites by 2035 and accelerate the country’s first lunar landing to 2030, the state-run space agency said Friday. The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) unveiled the plan during a public briefing on advanced industry development held in the southeastern city of Jinju. The strategy was approved earlier in the day by the National Space Council, chaired by President Lee Jae Myung. KASA said building the network will help strengthen South Korea’s domestic satellite and launch vehicle development and manufacturing ecosystem as the country pushes to build its own version of SpaceX’s Starlink network. “Leading space nations are making all-out efforts to build low-Earth orbit satellite communications networks, which are critical infrastructure for safeguarding national security and communications sovereignty, as well as a strategic foundation for the 6G era,” KASA Administrator Oh Tae-seok said. The agency said it plans to launch between 128 and 512 satellites, which cost at least 4 tri
