South Korea will send a lunar communications orbiter in 2029 and an unmanned lunar lander in 2032, KASA chief Yoon Young-bin announced at a policy briefing to President Lee Jae Myung in Sejong. The schedule is part of a broader roadmap to strengthen the country’s space capabilities and prepare for sustained lunar operations.
The 2029 orbiter is slated to launch on South Korea’s domestically built Nuri rocket. Officials noted that Nuri completed its fourth flight last month, successfully deploying 13 satellites into orbit. The orbiter’s primary role will be to establish deep-space communications infrastructure, a critical step because direct radio contact between Earth and the Moon’s far side is not possible.
Yoon said the communications relay will provide essential support for the planned 2032 lander mission and for future lunar activities. To build launch reliability, KASA aims to carry out at least one Nuri launch per year through 2032, with the goal of raising the rocket’s success rate above 90 percent.
Looking further ahead, South Korea plans to develop a reusable next-generation launch vehicle by 2035 to reduce costs and increase launch cadence. The roadmap reflects a phased approach: demonstrate communications and deep-space operations with the orbiter, follow with an unmanned descent and landing in 2032, and then advance payload capacity and reusability in the following decade.
