한국항공우주연구원

□ The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MISP) disclosed that it has reorganized the Satellite Information Research Institute of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) as the “National Satellite Operation & Application Center (Satellite Center)” and will hold the opening ceremony at the Satellite Center at 11:00am on December 18.
o Reorganization of the institute is the key project in the drive to “establish the creative economy by fostering the space industry,” which is the key policy of the Park Geun-hye administration. It is expected to be the turning point in Korea’s satellite development policy, which will switch from satellite development centered on self-sufficiency in space technology to demand-oriented satellite development and support for the creation of various new satellite image-based industries.

□ As a latecomer to the field of satellite development, Korea has largely focused on the acquisition of world-class satellite technologies until now. However, it has experienced some difficulties in its efforts to create high added value by integrating the satellite information owned by the government.
o Although the government has operated the Satellite Information Research Institute under KARI as the national agency dedicated to promoting the distribution and application of satellite information since 2008, there have been some limitations in promoting the application of satellite information in the private sector and in providing support for the related industries, because of the limited mission such as stable control of satellite and fulfilling the demand for satellite images in the public sector.
o Moreover, this is the time for the integrated management of low- and high-altitude satellite information for the preemptive measures needed in the era of multiple satellites that is anticipated in 2017 following the successive launches of the next-generation small satellite (2017), two Cheollian satellites (2018 and 2019), Multipurpose Satellite No. 6 (2019), and two next-generation intermediate-sized satellites (2019 and 2020).

□ The National Satellite Operation & Application Center established three key implementation directions to resolve the various difficulties over time and to become the advance base for creating new industries and markets based on the use of satellite information.
△ Commercial demand-based support for satellite information and advancement of the application system
△ Promotion of industries utilizing satellite information and application services
△ Development of infrastructure for industries utilizing satellite information

□ First, it will build the integrated API-based open platform in order to utilize satellite information to meet the demand for satellite information in the private sector and to advance the application system by establishing the grounds for promoting the use of satellite information for convergence applications and improving its value through the integration of satellite information that is separately managed for each satellite.
o It will support the commercial utilization of high-resolution satellite information by domestic industries and serve as a think tank that supports government policy making by systematically managing information, such as satellite information utilization status and new areas of demand in the public and private sectors.

□ Second, it intends to establish the grounds for discovering and linking the creative economic industries by providing diverse of satellite information* of high quality and high added value in order to promote industries’ use of satellite information and application services.
* Images that resolve incompatibility problems from separately processing location correction and adjacent area attachment by each user
o It plans to expand support for R&D to predict and cope with various social problems related to natural disasters, land, sea and environmental management, and to establish the satellite information industrial ecosystem based on convergence R&D of satellite information, big data, etc.

□ Third, it plans to train and educate skilled professionals in the area of satellite information processing and application in order to build the industrial infrastructure for the utilization of satellite information, and to actively seek joint research and information exchange with the US and EU countries in order to lay the foundations for entry into the global satellite information markets.
o In addition, it will accelerate the development of satellite information contents linked with various areas such as culture, society and art, and strengthen the PR and marketing campaign to citizens to expand the basis for the application of national satellite information.

□ “Beginning with this opening of the National Satellite Information Applicant Support Center, the government plans to improve the benefits for the general public by implementing the satellite information 3.0 through efficient application of national satellite information, and to enhance the nation’s status as a leader of space technology with the all-weather earth observation satellite system* through global cooperation on national satellite information”, declared Park Jae-moon, general director of the Office of R&D Policy at the MSIP.
* Optical (Multipurpose Satellite No. 3) - Radar (Multipurpose Satellite No. 5) - Infrared (Multipurpose Satellite No. 3A) – Geostationary orbit (Cheollian)
o The ceremony was attended by Park Jae-moon, general director of the Office of R&D Policy at the MSIP, Cho Gwang Rae, president of KARI, and about 100 executives and officials from 27 government agencies and industries, including the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, the Rural Development Administration, and Statistics Korea to resolve the cooperation and coexistence system centered on the newly founded National Satellite Operation & Application Center.