South Korea wants to plant flag on Mars by 2045: ‘In space lies infinite dream and future’
South Korea wants to send a probe to the moon by 2032 and plant its flag on Mars by 2045. South Korean President Yun Suk Yeol announced this on Thursday May 30h.

The newly established Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) will ‘aim to land a space probe on the moon by 2032 and to plant the South Korean flag on Mars by 2045,’ the president announced. ‘I have always thought there is an infinite dream and future in space,’ he mused.

In December 2022, South Korea put its space probe Danuri, launched by a SpaceX rocket a few months earlier, into orbit around the moon.
In May 2023, the country took another important step forward in its space programme with the third successful launch of the South Korean-designed Nuri rocket. Three more launches will follow by 2027, South Korean Science Minister Lee Jong-Ho said in 2023.

KASA

KASA was established on May 26th, 2024 as South Korea's counterpart to the US space agency NASA. KASA is the successor to KARI, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, established in 1989, is the aeronautics and space agency of South Korea. Its main laboratories are located in Daejeon, in the Daedeok Science Town.

The service will be headed by John Lee. The American with Korean roots worked at NASA for 30 years. KASA's immediate goal is to oversee South Korea's participation in the Artemis 3 lunar mission, to be carried out in 2026.