Hanwha, Univ. of Surrey to team up for space business

Hanwha Aerospace Co., South Korea’s major aerospace and defense system developer, announced on Friday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for global space business cooperation with the University of Surrey in the UK the previous day.

The university established the Surrey Space Center on its campus in 1979, manufactured a small satellite in 1981, and participated in the joint development of South Korea's first satellite KITSAT-1 in 1992. Over the past 40 years, it has been engaged in space industry technology development and research.

The two parties will seek new business opportunities and share relevant information in response to global space industry trends, such as the increasing demand for satellite services and launch services.

The two sides will cooperate to identify space projects that involve launching satellites developed by the University of Surrey into orbit using Nuri (KSLV-II), which Hanwha Aerospace has been performing system integration since the third launch last year.

They agreed to collaborate on the development of new space services based on satellite data.

A Hanwha Aerospace source also reported that on Tuesday, representatives from the University of Surrey and the UK Space Agency visited Hanwha's exhibition hall at the Farnborough International Airshow near London to witness Hanwha's vision and technological capabilities in the space business.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com