In order to promote the localization of "the heart of artificial satellites", all of which rely on overseas imports of "storage two-liquid thrusters". South Korea's Hanwha Group and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced on June 28 that they will jointly develop an energy storage two-liquid propeller that will be responsible for orbit correction and attitude control of the satellite.
Because sputniks are disturbed by planetary gravity that differs from Earth's gravity, the orbit and posture can only be corrected if the propulsion machine is activated frequently. The thruster developed by Hanfa and Aerospace Research institutes this time has added a "storage two-liquid thruster" in order to be able to complete the task stably for a longer period of time. This is a binary way of storing fuel and oxidizer in separate tanks. The amount of fuel is easily adjusted and efficient, and it can store a lot of fuel for a long time. After separating from the rocket, the satellite needs to enter orbit with its own propulsion force and operate in the extreme cosmic environment for more than 15 years.
So far, South Korea's storage two-liquid thrusters have relied on foreign companies outside of South Korea. Because it is a core technology that can be extended to missile propulsion agencies, it is impossible to transfer from developed countries to South Korea. Kim Sun-mo, Representative of Hanwha Group's Production and Prevention Division, said: "In the new space age, it is of extraordinary significance to localize core technologies that were 100% dependent on foreign countries. ”
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute is conducting a "space pioneer" project to localize cutting-edge space parts. A total of 211.5 billion won (about 1.2 billion yuan) was invested in a budget over the past 10 years. By promoting the development of the business, we will change the status quo of importing technology from other countries that would other countries cost 400 billion won (2.2 billion yuan), and the localization rate of South Korea's satellite business will reach 97%, and we will conduct large-scale core technology research and development with this goal. This time, the propulsion development project is one of the 10 development projects in Korea that began this year. It is expected to be used on the satellite launched in 2029, after which it will be carried on all satellites in South Korea.
Hanwha Group has been producing "single propellant" propulsion machines since the mid-1990s, and has improved and accumulated high technical capabilities. In March of this year, Hanwha Group also established a "Space Center" to bring together the space industry technologies scattered across the group, with Hanwha Solutions President Kim Dong-kwong (38), as the group leader, including Hanwha Corporation, Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Airlines, and Cetrice, an artificial satellite risk company with unpaid registration directors.
Previously, Hanwha Systems, a subsidiary of Hanwha Group, announced on March 29 that it will build a low-orbit communication constellation system (Korean version of GPS) consisting of 2,000 satellites by 2030, mainly for urban cargo drones and civil aircraft communications. To this end, Hanwha Group will invest KRW 500 billion (approximately CNY 2.9 billion) to develop low-orbit communication satellites, ultra-thin sweeping antennas, and satellite control systems by 2023. A company spokesperson said the planned test service will begin in 2023, shortly after the launch of the first satellites. Regular services will be provided in 2025, with the goal of achieving annual sales of 5 trillion won (about 29 billion yuan) by 2030.
Around May this year, the Korea Space Research Center was established in conjunction with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). President Kim Dong-kwong said: "What someone should do is the universe industry. We will develop with a socially responsible attitude. ”