Virgin Orbit recently entered an agreement with South Korean investment group J-Space to grant South Korean companies access to assess candidate spaceport launch sites.
“We are pleased to enter into this exclusive agreement with J-Space to provide launch operations and space services for the South Korean market,” Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit CEO, said in a recent Business Wire press release. “The Korean space industry has made huge strides in the past few years both in the commercial and government sectors, with the South Korean government increasing its space budget by over twenty percent in the past year alone. We are excited by the growth and partnership opportunities in the region that could include industrial base participation in South Korea and look forward to working with the visionary team at J-Space to expedite a flexible launch solution from the Korean peninsula in the near-future.”
The agreement will make way for businesses to assess candidate spaceport launch sites to introduce satellite launch services and sovereign air-launch capabilities to the country with the help of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne System.
"The partners aim to develop a roadmap that will result in launch site identification and operations, delineate specific investor and business objectives, and identify key partners in the region," the release said. "The roadmap will seek to lay out the steps required to enable the first flights of LauncherOne to occur from South Korea in as little as 12 -18 months."
The collaboration is intended to aid the small satellite and space solutions market in South Korea and boost the country’s economic growth by providing “flexible and responsive launch capability in support of a wide range of mission applications,” the release said.
“Our work with Virgin Orbit opens the potential for unparalleled access to space from South Korea, enabling many of the new space utilization companies in Korea by providing affordable, flexible, and rapid launch," Bongki Min, J-Space CEO, said in the release. "We want to build upon and extend the current South Korean space infrastructure, helping further enhance our role as a global leader in space. Our relationship with Virgin Orbit provides a key catalyst for that growth.”