The government aims to launch a lunar communication orbiter in 2029 using the South Korean Nuri rocket and an orbiter transport vehicle. 

Yoon Young-bin, administrator of the Korea AeroSpace Administration(KASA), unveiled the plan on Friday during his agency’s policy briefing to President Lee Jae Myung in Sejong City.

The KASA chief said the mission aims to secure the deep-space communication technology needed to send a lunar lander using a next-generation launch vehicle in 2032.

An orbital transfer vehicle is a spacecraft designed to send payloads toward deep space.

While the Nuri rocket alone does not have sufficient thrust to put a lunar probe into orbit, the plan would involve mounting an orbital transfer vehicle on Nuri to place a communications orbiter near the moon.

Yoon also said that KASA plans to conduct at least one Nuri launch per year through 2032 to raise its success rate above 90 percent and to develop a reusable next-generation launch vehicle by 2035.