The South Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), a Korean government-funded space and aeronautics agency, is reportedly considering launching a national space data center program. For this, it held a forum with 17 companies on Aug 10, to discuss technology development and public-private cooperation for a proposed space data center.
The project is part of K-Moonshot, a government challenge-driven research and development program aimed at developing and testing technologies for processing data in orbit. According to media reports, the forum was held at AI semiconductor company Rebellions in Seongnam, brought together firms from the semiconductor, energy, cooling and satellite industries, including SK hynix, LG Energy Solution, LG Electronics, Hanwha Solutions’ Q Cells division, Korea Aerospace Industries, Hanwha Systems, Satrec Initiative, Rebellions, DeepX, FuriosaAI and Mobilint.
“Space data centers are a core growth engine for creating new industries in the space domain, it is crucial to confirm the willingness of non-space AI and ICT companies to participate and to shape this into a new satellite development and manufacturing ecosystem,” said Oh Tae-seok, Administrator, KASA. “We will incorporate the opinions discussed at this forum into the direction and detailed strategy for the space data center, and actively support the expansion of AI across the entire space industry ecosystem.”
Discussions focused on radiation-hardening technology for AI semiconductors, space-grade solar cells and cooling systems. Participants also requested government support for validating commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, conducting tests under space conditions and providing opportunities to demonstrate technologies on test satellites.
KASA plans to bring companies from outside the space sector into the space supply chain as part of the project. KASA and the K-Moonshot Promotion Team under the National Research Council of Science & Technology also presented the project’s progress and agreed to continue discussions with participating companies.