Even with investment in space startups at its lowest… we still dream of ‘space’

Private companies are rushing into space development, which was once led by the state. Since the 2000s, the competition for space dominance has expanded into the private sector. Representative global examples include SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, and Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Recently in Korea, startups that research and advance space development technologies are also drawing attention.

First, in the launch vehicle sector, Unastella's challenge stands out. Founded in 2022 as Korea's first private crewed launch vehicle startup, Unastella aims to develop a launch vehicle capable of crewed flight up to an altitude of 100 km. It is also researching ways to provide suborbital space tourism services. Currently, it is developing an “electric motor pump cycle engine” focused on the efficiency of a 5-ton-class vehicle. Based on this technological capability, Unastella was recently selected as a final recipient of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' “Scale-up TIPS” R&D support program.