Hanwha Aerospace is building South Korea’s first commercial rocket with an ambitious target: matching Elon Musk’s SpaceX in price within the next decade.
The company is part of Hanwha Group, a 71-year-old conglomerate that started as an explosives maker, branched into weapons sales and is now shifting into green energy, defense and aerospace. Cash from arms sales to Ukraine’s neighbors is helping to fund Hanwha’s efforts to expand its 2-year-old space business.
Nuri, a rocket developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute using Hanwha’s engines, isn’t reusable, but the goal is to eventually halve launch prices by 2032 to match SpaceX, Yoo Dongwan, senior executive vice president of Hanwha Aerospace, said in an interview.