Jeju and Hanwha seek broader partnership, linking satellite manufacturing with data services

【Financial News, Jeju—Reporter Jeong Yong-bok】 Efforts are underway to build an industrial base in Jeju that connects satellite manufacturing facilities with communications and imaging data services. The plan is to link the process from satellite production through receiving data on the ground to commercializing it.
According to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province on the 19th, the province is pursuing a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hanwha Systems. It plans to upgrade satellite mass-production facilities and gradually expand communications gateways and ground stations for imaging services.
The key to expanding cooperation is connecting production facilities with data services. A gateway links satellites to terrestrial communications networks, while a ground station for imaging services receives image data transmitted by satellites. The aim is to establish the facilities needed for satellite manufacturing along with the infrastructure to provide communications and imaging services.
A system for launching satellites produced in Jeju from offshore is also planned. After launch, the plan is to link satellite control—monitoring the satellites’ condition and mission performance—with data reception and analysis and service provision, in pursuit of overseas markets.
Existing facilities will also be linked according to their roles. The plan is to connect the satellite manufacturing base at Hanwha Jeju Space Center, the data reception and utilization base at CONTEC Asian Space Park (ASP), and the National Satellite Operations Center. The model will be fleshed out by having private companies use public satellite data to develop technology, test and validate it in Jeju’s industrial settings, and then commercialize it.

Efforts to attract related companies will focus on Hawon Techno Campus. The province plans to support the launch and growth of startups and promising companies in the space sector and attract related businesses to expand collaboration between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies.
Efforts are also underway to add Jeju to the country’s space-industry hubs. The government’s space-industry cluster is organized around launch vehicles in Jeonnam, satellites in Gyeongnam, and research and talent development in Daejeon. A cluster is a hub that brings together related companies, research institutions, and support facilities to foster an industry.
The field for which Jeju is seeking additional designation is “satellite information utilization.” It involves using data obtained in space for terrestrial industries and services, and the strategy is to add a data-utilization function to hubs that have traditionally focused on manufacturing and launches.
The policy foundation is the small satellite system, selected last August by the government as a growth-engine industry under its “5 Mega-Regions, 3 Special Provinces” initiative. The province plans to link corporate investment and infrastructure expansion with the balanced national growth policy, which fosters key industries in each region. Separate from the system’s selection as a growth-engine industry, the satellite information utilization cluster is at the stage of pursuing additional designation. Plans to upgrade mass-production facilities, expand ground stations, and establish an offshore launch system will be fleshed out going forward.
Jang Cheol-won, head of Jeju Province’s Future Industries Bureau, said, “We will develop Jeju into a hub where the private space industry’s end-to-end value chain is complete,” adding, “We will realize Korea’s space hub, where large corporations and local startups take off together.”
[email protected] Jeong Yong-bok Reporter