South Korea Plans to Build a Base on the Moon

South Korea has unveiled an ambitious space exploration roadmap through its newly established Korean AeroSpace Administration (KASA), aiming to build a lunar base within the next 20 years. The plan, announced at a National Research Foundation meeting in July 2024, outlines five core missions including low-Earth orbit activities, microgravity exploration, lunar exploration, and solar and space science. Key milestones include deploying a robotic lunar lander by 2032, developing a new lander by 2040, and constructing a lunar economic base by 2045. South Korea is progressing from earlier efforts such as the 2022 lunar orbiter launch and plans to use its domestically developed KSLV-III rocket for future missions, moving away from reliance on foreign launch systems. In addition to lunar ambitions, KASA envisions Mars exploration with a landing module targeted for 2045 and plans to enhance space security and solar monitoring by deploying a solar observation satellite at the L4 Lagrange point by 203