The Incheon Metropolitan City Government, in partnership with Inha University, will train experts in the future space industry who can play a leading role in the space industry going forward, promote space exploration, and take on core space technology development projects that could be utilized in expeditions to the moon in search of space resources.
On July 25, Incheon hosted an opening ceremony for the “Future Space Exploration and Space Resource Utilization Technology Research Center” at the Institute for Aerospace Industry-Academia Collaboration (IIACI). Officials from 24 industry, academia, research, and government institutes participating in the consortium for the Research Center attended the event.
The opening ceremony was followed by a brief introduction of the Research Center, and a workshop on how R&D and training will proceed. During the workshop, research personnel from various industry, academia, and research institutions that will participate in the Research Center’s operations shared research initiatives expected to be carried out over the next five years.
Meanwhile, for the Future Space Exploration and Space Resource Utilization Technology Research Center project, a new industry, academia, and research consortium was established to propose the Research Center for the “Future Space Education Center Project” promoted and approved by the Ministry of Science and ICT on April 11.
In particular, the Future Space Exploration and Space Resource Utilization Technology Research Center will provide practical research and training in the field of space exploration and space resource utilization. To do so, a total of 23 local organizations and companies, including industry, academia, and research institutions based in Incheon (Inha University, Incheon National University, State University of New York, Korea Polar Research Institute of Marine Research Placement, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, and Dawin Friction) will participate in the project.
The Research Center plans to research and develop world-class core space technologies such as autonomous precision celestial navigation technology required for lunar exploration, lunar rovers designed to mine water resources on the moon, and electrolytic thrusters to recover the mined resources.
▲ The Incheon Metropolitan City Government, in partnership with Inha University, will train experts in the future space industry who can play a leading role in the space industry going forward, promote space exploration, and take on core space technology development projects that could be utilized in expeditions to the moon in search of space resources. Image from the opening ceremony.
Aside from developing core technologies in the future space industry, the Research Center plans to train a total of 225 (45 per year) core professionals at the master's and doctoral level with programs tailored to specific “tracks” as well as practical field training, and international collaboration programs related to space development.
Overall, this Research Center project will require a total of KRW 11.8 billion in investment until2026, including KRW 5 billion from the government, KRW 5 billion from municipal funds (Incheon), and other subsidies from participating corporations, the IIACI, and Inha University.
The Incheon Metropolitan City Government expects this Research Center project to make significant contributions to the advancement and diversification of its local industrial landscape by producing leading space experts in Korea, and by helping converge the aviation and space industries.
