Virgin Orbit, a leading launch provider, has signed an agreement with South Korean investment group J-Space. The agreement will allow the companies to assess candidate spaceport launch sites in South Korea, with the goal of providing satellite launch services from there using Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne System. The cooperative effort is designed to act as a catalyst to the burgeoning Korean small satellite and space solutions market, stimulate local economic growth and provide the South Korean government with a flexible and responsive launch capability in support of a wide range of mission applications.
In pursuing its mission to transform the space industry in South Korea, J-Space looks to leverage Virgin Orbit’s unique mobile launch system and its capability to offer nations a turnkey small satellite launch capability that can quickly become fully operational, thereby satisfying commercial, civil government and defence requirements.
Drawing on local expertise and funding by J-Space and on launch and mission expertise from Virgin Orbit, the partnership will focus its initial efforts on linking with local South Korean high-tech industries and formulating end-to-end mission solutions that will benefit the nation and broader region. 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 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.
