Seoul, May 22 || South Korea's space agency has launched a dedicated task force to explore participation in future Mars missions through cooperation with the US, the head of the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) said.
The comments were made at a press briefing marking the agency's first anniversary held in Sacheon, 290 kilometers south of Seoul, where the agency is headquartered, news agency reported.
"The US budget for space exploration is increasingly focused on Mars, with concrete plans to send humans and establish a presence there. In Korea, we have only recently begun to consider what actions we should take at this point," KASA Administrator Yoon Young-bin said.
"We have recently launched a task force," Young-bin added.
"We need to devise exploration plans that are not only scientific but also economically viable so that private companies can play a more ambitious role," added Yoon.
The administrator noted such plans "could lead to the development of creative and innovative technologies that even advanced countries have yet to achieve," explaining that the task force was created to advance to Mars exploration.