PMFORUM Breaking News

NASA has announced the signing of a Letter of Intent for future cooperation with the Korean Aerospace Research Institute. During a meeting on 30 October 2008 at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) in Seoul, Korea, NASA's Assistant Administrator for External Relations, Michael F. O'Brien (pictured), and MEST's Director-General for Big Science, Munki Lee, signed the joint statement of intent which identified potential interest in cooperation in civil space and aeronautics activities.

According to the statement and the NASA press release, the two agencies agreed to jointly identify new cooperative activities related to space exploration, Earth science, planetary science, human space flight and aeronautics research. The goal of these discussions will be to advance the interests of both nations through cooperation in space and aeronautics programs. A joint report is expected in eight months.

The discussions are to explore a wide range of potential cooperative efforts, including exchange of research data and analysis, potential contributions of scientific instruments and hardware to support future missions, and collaborative exploration architecture planning.

According to NASA, the discussions may also include the International Lunar Network, an ongoing multilateral initiative to establish a robotic network on the surface of the moon; the Global Exploration Strategy, a dialogue involving fourteen international space agencies for enhanced international cooperation in space exploration; and the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, a multilateral effort to coordinate space exploration activities among government space agencies.

For more information about NASA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/





For more information about Korea Aerospace Research Institute, visit http://www.kari.re.kr/