{"id":574870,"date":"2026-07-30T04:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574870\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T04:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:24:22","slug":"nasa-seeks-koreas-role-in-moon-base-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574870\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA seeks Korea’s role in Moon Base project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NASA<\/p>\n

NASA Moon Base Program Manager Carlos Garcia-Galan, right, speaks during a press conference hosted by the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) in Seoul, Wednesday. Chief Architect Nujoud Merancy joined Garcia-Galan at the event. Courtesy of KASA <\/p>\n

NASA is seeking Korea\u2019s participation in the sector of communications, landers and robotics in its Moon Base program, the program\u2019s chief said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring Apollo, it was a United States effort, but to build the moon base and even to get back to the moon, we don\u2019t plan to do it alone,\u201d NASA Moon Base Program Manager Carlos Garcia-Galan said during a press briefing in Seoul. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to go hand-in-hand with our international partners and create a team that can achieve the near-impossible. \u2026 South Korea is one of the players that we\u2019re hoping will engage with us in this incredible endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Moon Base program is part of Artemis, NASA’s international lunar exploration initiative aimed at landing humans on the moon. The agency initially planned to establish Gateway, a space station in lunar orbit, but has since shifted its focus to building a permanent base on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

Under the revised road map, NASA aims to deploy more than 4,000 kilograms of cargo to the lunar surface by 2028, introduce permanent infrastructure and pressurized rovers by 2032, and connect habitat modules beginning in 2033.<\/p>\n

Korea became the 10th signatory to the Artemis Accords in 2021. Following the establishment of the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), the agency signed a research cooperation agreement with NASA in October 2024. <\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of NASA’s Moon Base program attend a press conference hosted by the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) in Seoul, Wednesday. Second from left are Chief Architect Nujoud Merancy, Program Manager Carlos Garcia-Galan, International Lead Eric Maier and International Specialist Nathan Kumar. Courtesy of KASA<\/p>\n

In February this year, KASA proposed potential cooperation items related to the Moon Base program, and the two agencies are currently discussing specific areas of collaboration. Garcia-Galan\u2019s visit is in line with detailed consultations with KASA on the proposed projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think South Korea has important capabilities and the industrial base to back those up, and those are the basis of the conversations we have with our partners here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nujoud Merancy, the program’s chief architect, said NASA has been looking to collaborate in areas of landers, communication, mobility systems, science sampling and containers.<\/p>\n

\u201cKorea has a strong history in telecommunications satellite systems and we have partnered with Korea and KASA on the KPLO (Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter) mission,\u201d she said, referring to Korea\u2019s first home-developed lunar orbiter Danuri, which was launched in August 2022 on board SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of those areas, the industrial base for robotics, the mobility systems as well as the scientific research and sensors, KASA did the majority of the work looking to partner with the industry, and we\u2019re looking to build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the current Moon Base road map, Japan is responsible for developing a pressurized rover, while countries including Italy are expected to contribute to permanent surface infrastructure. Korea’s role, however, has yet to be determined.<\/p>\n

Garcia-Galan said the program is still in its first phase, with discussions currently focused on defining major elements such as habitation and mobility. He added that the fact that NASA teams have come to Korea for talks is \u201can encouraging sign\u201d that Korea could become a major contributor to the project.<\/p>\n

He said the participating agencies expect to define the program’s major elements within the next three months, paving the way for more specific discussions on each country’s contributions.<\/p>\n

“A new economy has spawned where individual companies have developed the ability to take humans to the International Space Station,\u201d Garcia-Galan said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe see a lot of opportunity to extend some of those economic models to the moon and develop the type of vibrant market that we have seen in low Earth orbit.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA Moon Base Program Manager Carlos Garcia-Galan, right, speaks during a press conference hosted by the Korea AeroSpace…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-574870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}