Seoul, May 23 (EFE).- A South Korean project to establish a satellite communications system in low Earth orbit (LEO) has passed a preliminary feasibility study and will officially begin next year, the government announced Thursday.
The initiative of the Ministry of Science and ICT aims to launch two LEO satellites based on sixth generation (6G) communications network technology by 2030.
Seoul also plans to create a demonstration LEO satellite communications system network to help companies independently develop core technologies for the system, such as satellite tracking, and help them expand their global businesses.
As it passed the preliminary feasibility study, the ministry said it will be able to allocate the budget for the project, 320 billion won ($234.3 million dollars), starting next year to put it into operation.
The ministry urged South Korean companies to prepare to enter 6G-based LEO satellite communications market, considering it is expected to grow in the 2030s, after the completion of standardization.
“We wish to give a fresh boost to the country’s digital and space economy by bolstering our competitiveness in the satellite communications industry,” said Ryu Je-myung, head of the network policy department at the science ministry, according to Yonhap news agency.
LEO satellites, which orbit between 300 and 1,500 kilometers altitude, are gaining attention because they can provide high-speed communications with short latency due to their proximity to Earth, compared to satellites in geostationary orbit.
Global tech companies have already launched LEO satellite services in a bid to secure early market dominance, as is the case of Starlink, from Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, which uses a swarm of LEO satellites to create a global broadband network. EFE
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