Together with Korea Aerospace Research Institute
Hanwha Group will localize key satellite components imported from overseas.
Hanwha Corp. announced on June 28 that it will invest 8 billion won by 2025, together with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, to develop a hypotonic bipropellant thruster. A thruster controls a satellite’s position and attitude. It is called the heart of a satellite because it is directly linked to its life expectancy.
Earth’s and other planets’ gravity continuously hamper the operation of a satellite. It can maintain its orbit and position by using a thruster.
Until now, Korean companies have used bipropellant thrusters for geostationary satellites produced by foreign companies such as those in Germany. The thruster developed by Hanwha and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute is based on a hypotonic bipropellant thruster that allows geostationary orbit satellites to perform their duties stably for a longer period of time.
A geostationary orbit satellite must rise to its orbit with its own thrust power and operate in extremely harsh space environments for more than 15 years.
The bipropellant thruster stores fuel and oxidizers in different tanks. This method is highly efficient as it can control the fuel volume and store a lot of fuel for a long time
Hanwha has been improving its technology since it produced single propellant thrusters for satellites in the mid-1990s. Its thrusters were mounted on multi-purpose satellites and next-generation medium-sized satellites, which are still carrying out their missions in space.