On May 27, 2021, through NASA’s website, the news that Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hye-sook signed the Artemis Agreement was heavily covered. NASA official website screenshot
“Korea has signed the Artemis Agreement with the United States. They expect that everything will unfold and that something will come true, but the reality is not.”
Choi Sang-hyeok, senior researcher at NASA’s Langley Research Institute, said at the National Assembly Space Forum held at the National Assembly Hall in Yeouido, Seoul on the 15th, “‘Accord is not a binding term and has no great meaning.” It is pointed out that it is necessary to materialize an organization that can promote the agreement and to show a cooperative movement from the research team.
The Artemis program aims to send four people to the moon, including the first female astronaut in human history, in the third stage, following the first unmanned plan to test the performance of the flying vehicle and the second manned plan to test communication and navigation systems. Korea signed the agreement in May last year, becoming the 10th country to participate in the agreement.
Senior Researcher Choi is an expert in space technology who has worked at NASA for 40 years and developed various inventions such as satellite sensors, bio-nano batteries, ultra-small spectrometers, solar rockets, and single-crystal silicon germanium (SiGe) semiconductor materials. In recognition of his contributions, NASA selected Choi, the chief researcher, to the Inventors’ Hall of Fame in 2020.
Choi Sang-hyeok, a senior researcher at NASA’s Langley Research Center, makes a presentation at the National Assembly Space Forum held at the National Assembly Hall in Yeouido, Seoul on the 15th. Provided by Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources
Senior Researcher Choi explained that there is a difference in policy implementation between Korea and the United States. “In the United States, not all policies are decided at the upper level,” he said. Rather, it is a ‘bottom up’ method that organizes all the situations from the bottom up and delivers them to the superior.
Senior Researcher Choi said, “Korea needs to study how to approach the agreement with the United States. For example, if we consider that we are collaborating on satellite-related technology according to the Artemis Agreement, it is necessary to first understand which center of NASA is where the researcher who studies satellite-related technology is located.
Senior Researcher Choi said, “It is a cooperation issue that can be included in the contents of the Artemis Agreement in a comprehensive sense.
An image of the manned lunar exploration mission ‘Artemis’. Provided by NASA.