On July 3rd, South Korean President Lee Jae myung presided over the 5th National Space Council meeting and approved the "South Korean Aerospace Industry Cultivation Strategy". This document contains a lot of information: the South Korean type low Earth orbit satellite communication network (with a maximum planned capacity of 512 satellites and an estimated investment scale of 3.9 trillion to 14.2 trillion Korean won), the lunar landing plan being advanced from 2032 to 2030; World Number "; Repetitive launch and reusable rocket development, South Coast aerospace industry belt
Core Viewpoints of Taibo Think Tank
The release of South Korea's "Space and Aerospace Industry Cultivation Strategy" is not only noteworthy, but also highlights the importance of; Korean version of Star Chain; Or advance the lunar landing plan, but its strategic focus has shifted from; Developing the Aerospace Industry; Turning "; Layout of space economy;.
Tiber think tank believes that in the next decade, the competitive focus of global commercial aerospace will undergo three leaps:
The first transition is from rocket competition to satellite Internet competition;
The second transition is from satellite Internet to space intelligence and space infrastructure competition;
The third leap is from low Earth orbit to lunar economy and deep space economy.
For China, commercial aerospace has entered the stage of; Technology driven "; Towards'; Industry driven "; From "; Project Breakthrough; Towards'; Ecological Competition "; The critical stage of transformation. Whoever can take the lead in building a complete aerospace economy system that covers commercial aerospace, low altitude economy, space intelligence, aerospace AI, and lunar economy is more likely to take the initiative in the next round of global technological competition.
South Korea is accelerating its catch-up, and China needs to accelerate its transition from; Commercial Aerospace; Towards'; Aerospace Economy "; Strategic upgrade. This is not only a new proposition for industrial development, but also an important signal for global technological competition to enter a new stage.
01 South Korea begins to move from "space industry" to "space economy"
This is not an ordinary industrial plan, but the first time that South Korea has provided a complete answer to the commercial space competition in the next decade in the form of a national strategy.
If in the past, South Korea focused on developing aerospace manufacturing capabilities such as rockets and satellites, then the biggest signal released by this strategy is that South Korea has begun to move from; Aerospace Industry "; Towards'; Space economy;.
And the most noteworthy keyword among them is not rockets or satellites, but the lunar economy.
The Taibo Think Tank's judgment on the Earth Moon economy at the beginning of this year is being intensively verified by a series of events:
The United States; Artemis 2; Plan to carry out manned lunar flights within the year;
China's lunar exploration project continues to advance, with Chang'e-7 aiming for the high difficulty landing area at the South Pole of the Moon;
And this time, South Korea, in the name of the country's highest decision-making body, officially advanced the moon landing node from 2032 to 2030, and synchronously planned the lunar orbit communication satellite in 2029 and the lunar science exploration spacecraft in 2031, forming a complete stepped lunar exploration system.
This once again confirms a trend: global commercial space competition is entering a phase of; Space Economy "; Era
02 The biggest change in South Korea's strategy: the government no longer focuses on research and development, but on the market
Compared to previous South Korean space programs, the biggest difference in this' Space and Aerospace Industry Cultivation Strategy 'is not how much investment has been increased, but a fundamental change in the role of the government.
South Korea proposes:
The government will shift from directly leading research and development (Developer) in the past to supporting industrial development (Supporter).
This means that South Korea has begun to fully adopt the NASA Commercial Space model.
The strategy proposes four directions:
Shift from R&D investment to creating market demand;
Extending from the entire system to components, applications, and services;
Promote more non aerospace enterprises to enter the space industry;
Plan ahead for the future space economy.
This approach is highly consistent with the logic of promoting the development of the commercial aerospace industry in the United States in recent years:
Government procurement market, enterprises create industries.
This is also the mainstream paradigm of current global commercial aerospace development.
03 Greatest highlight: South Korea begins layout "; The Moon Economy ";
The most noteworthy aspect of the entire strategy is the lunar exploration industry.
South Korea explicitly states:
Advance the first lunar landing to 2030;
Private enterprises lead the 700 kilogram lunar lander;
Constructing a lunar communication satellite in 2029;
Implement Earth Moon scientific exploration in 2031;
Enterprises plan ahead for future industries such as lunar logistics and mobile robots;
Strive to become an important supplier for NASA's International Lunar Base.
This means:
South Korea no longer sees lunar exploration as a scientific research mission, but rather as a future industry.
That is to say:
Today, we are building lunar exploration capabilities with the goal of participating in the lunar commercial market in the future.
This approach is completely consistent with the judgment proposed by the Tiber think tank this year.
In the "Top 10 Technology and Industry Trends of 2026", Taibo Think Tank proposed:
The moon is gradually evolving from a scientific exploration object to a future commercial infrastructure.
In the next decade, new industrial chains will gradually form around industries such as lunar communication, navigation, logistics, energy, robotics, and resource development.
South Korea's current strategy is one of the earliest national level practices of this trend.
04 " Korean version of Star Chain; What does it mean?
Another important project is the official proposal of South Korea to build a national low orbit satellite Internet.
Strategic proposal:
Build a low Earth orbit satellite communication network in South Korea consisting of approximately 512 satellites by 2035.
The total investment is expected to reach:
3.9 trillion to 14.2 trillion Korean won.
More importantly, South Korea proposed:
Persist "; Domestic satellites+domestic rockets;.
The government will continue to create launch demand and promote the formation of a complete commercial closed loop in domestic industries.
This means that South Korea is building its own complete commercial ecosystem of satellite manufacturing, launch, communication, and applications.
Although its scale cannot be compared to Starlink, for South Korea, its goal is not global coverage, but to form a national level space infrastructure that is autonomous, safe, and sustainable.
05 Korea begins to create "; Aerospace Industry Belt;
It is worth noting that this strategy not only plans industries, but also spatial planning.
South Korea proposes to construct:
South Coast Aerospace Industry Belt.
Surrounding:
Sichuan (Aerospace Department)
Jinzhou (satellite)
Changyuan (Aviation Manufacturing)
Happy (rocket launch)
Form a complete industrial chain.
This is actually similar to:
The Space Coast of Florida, United States.
South Korea hopes to achieve deep collaboration among enterprises, research institutions, government, and capital through industrial agglomeration.
06 Compared to South Korea, what do we really need to think about?
The scale of South Korea's commercial aerospace industry is much smaller than that of China.
But there are many aspects of this strategy that China should pay attention to.
Firstly, the government has begun to truly create a commercial market.
South Korea proposes:
Not subsidizing enterprises, but purchasing enterprises.
It's not about building capacity, but about creating demand.
In the future, public procurement will become the largest market for commercial aerospace.
This is highly consistent with the development path of NASA in the United States.
Secondly, consider the lunar economy as the industry for today's layout.
Currently, more and more countries around the world are paying attention to:
Lunar communication
Lunar logistics
Lunar robot
Lunar Energy
ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilization of the Moon)
Lunar Data Service
South Korea hopes to be the first to enter the future supply chain.
This indicates that:
International competition has begun to shift from commercial aerospace to the lunar economy.
Thirdly, move from industrial clusters to industrial ecosystems.
South Korea proposes:
Not only developing rocket companies.
But rather to promote:
Automobile companies, electronics companies, robotics companies, AI companies, communication companies
Fully enter the space industry.
The aerospace industry has become a platform to drive the upgrading of the entire advanced manufacturing industry.
07 Inspiration for China's Commercial Aerospace
Compared to South Korea, China's commercial aerospace industry already has a more complete industrial system.
But in the next stage, what really needs to be considered is not just; Building rockets and satellites; But rather how to build a sustainable business ecosystem.
Taibo Think Tank believes that in the next five years, China's commercial aerospace industry needs to focus on three directions:
First, from "; Technological Breakthrough "; Towards'; Market creation;.
The true competition in commercial aerospace is not just about research and development capabilities, but also the ability to continuously generate market demand. Establishing a stable government procurement mechanism, public data openness mechanism, and commercial application scenarios will be more important than simply expanding research and development investment.
Secondly, from "; Aerospace Industry "; Towards'; Aerospace economy;.
Satellite Internet, remote sensing data, navigation services, low altitude economy, aerospace AI, space intelligence and other emerging industries will jointly constitute a new growth pole of aerospace economy. Commercial aerospace should not be limited to rockets and satellites, but should become an important infrastructure for the digital and intelligent economy.
Thirdly, advance the layout of the lunar economy from low Earth orbit.
Although the lunar economy is still in its early stages, new industries are emerging in areas such as lunar communication, logistics, robotics, resource development, and infrastructure construction. For Chinese companies with technological capabilities, now is an important window to enter the international lunar industry chain and seize the future value high ground.
