Hanwha Systems starts an asteroid exploration project that is very close to Earth.
On the 30th, Hanwha Systems announced that it was selected as the preferred bidder for the ‘space exploration standard platform system design’ project jointly promoted by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.
This project is a work to draw a sketch that will serve as the basis for Korea’s planned space exploration projects, such as asteroid exploration and moon landing, jointly with Hanwha Systems, a private company, and the government-funded research institutes, Astronomical Institute and Astronautical Institute. In particular, the company explained that this project is meaningful in that it is a process of transition to ‘New Space’, a private-led space development that is a global trend.
The first possibility that this sketch will be applied is the exploration project for the asteroid ‘Apophis’. The Ministry of Science and ICT applied for a preliminary feasibility study on the 3rd. The asteroid Apophis with a size of 370 m, about 1.5 times the height of the 63 building, will pass through the Earth 31600 km in April 2029, seven years later. It is about 5000 km closer than a clairvoyant satellite floating at an altitude of 36,500 km. It is rare for an asteroid over 300m to pass by the Earth like this once in thousands of years, or at most once every 20,000 years.
When Apophis, which retains the early appearance of the solar system, approaches the Earth, it is expected that major changes will occur, such as an increase in orbit diameter and a shift in the axis of rotation under the influence of gravity. The purpose of the Apophis Exploration is to observe and photograph these changes by launching a space probe made with domestic technology as a domestic launch vehicle. If the Apophis exploration proceeds as planned, the company explained that it is expected to make a great academic contribution to elucidating the history of the evolution of the solar system along with the development of Korea’s space exploration technology.
What Hanwha Systems is designing is the standard platform for space exploration. If the Apophis exploration or lunar landing project is promoted, it can be widely used as a sketch. Hanwha Systems is in charge of the overall system, and Hanwha Corporation’s high-efficiency propulsion system technology and Setrec-I’s lightweight electric system technology are used together. This means that the technology of ‘Space Hub’, which brought the Hanwha Group’s space industry together, is mobilized.
If the Apophis expedition goes as planned, the probe will be launched in October 2027. Out of Earth’s orbit, the probe moves away to a distance of about 84 million km, which is 220 times the Earth-Moon distance (about 380,000 km). When the probe gets faster and catches up with the speed of Apophis, which is over 30 km/s, from then on, it observes changes while flying together at a distance of about 10 km.
The space project, in which the government and private companies work together from the sketch stage, is expected to create various synergies. Experts say, first of all, because space projects are carried out according to the big picture, core technologies such as light weight and high-efficiency propulsion systems secured through the Apophis exploration in 2029 will be used in the lunar landing project in the 2030s to increase the efficiency of the space exploration project. analyzed that it could be
A company official said, “If the proportion of private participation in this process increases, technology will be transferred naturally, and in the future, private companies will be able to develop the capacity to lead an entire space project.” “The development of space industry technology and New Space It means we can speed up the transition together.”
By Nam Do-young, staff reporter hyun@techm.kr
