Satrec Initiative (SI) is a satellite manufacturing company located in Korea. It is the only private company in Korea that is a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). They will participate in the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) this year in Daejeon. This event and this year are very significant for them because two projects, the culmination of nine years of research and development into the field of miniature satellites, will both be launched this year. This year all their hard work will finally go up into the great dark. “If we attended previous IACs to determine current technology levels, IAC at home is like a coming out for us,” said Park Sung-dong, of Satrec Initiative.

Satrec Initiative has been working with both Malaysia and Dubai to develop satellites for these countries. The Dubai satellite, DubaiSat-1, is the product of collaboration between SI and the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) since 2006. The completed satellite was originally scheduled to launch in 2008, but the launch has experienced delays. “2009 is the harvest year for us. DubaiSat-1 will go up onboard a Russian rocket, Dnepr, through the Moscow-based International Space Company (ISC) Kosmotras along with RazakSAT sometime this year,” said Park. Indeed, SI's other project, the Malaysian satellite called RazakSAT, is also scheduled to go up this year on board a Falcon 1 rocket by the US-based SpaceX company. It is also a collaborative effort, this time between the Astronautic Technology Sdn Bhd (ATSB) of Malaysia and SI. Both partnerships have been specifically designed to educate and demonstrate indigenous spacecraft design in the respective countries.

According to President Park, Satrec Initiative was established in January 2000 by former SaTReC (KAIST) engineers who had already successfully carried out the development of small satellite systems for various national space programs. There are numerous types of satellites worldwide, such as telecommunication and broadcast satellites, meteorological satellites, GPS satellites, and some for military use. SI, however, has been focusing on small satellite systems for earth observation, and now retains one of the highest performing small satellites weighing between 200 and 300kg.

SI's satellite designs are targeted towards emerging countries with budding space industries, such as the aforementioned Malaysia and UAE, but also Singapore and Turkey. Those countries have just started to make inroads into the satellite fields and mainly develop micro satellites for remote-sensing and earth observation. Park said that those countries do not want to simply buy satellites, but are more interested in involving themselves in the development process so that they can attain technology transfer, in which sense, SI is the right place for them since it has concentrated on small satellite systems thus providing an optimum environment for beginners who do not want to deal with the superfluous.

The United Kingdom, France and Korea have leading companies pertaining to small satellites for earth observation, but the UK and France are undeniably more recognized countries, and so are their companies. For Korean companies, including SI, Korea's host, IAC 2009 therefore provides a golden chance to position themselves in a great number of prospective customers' minds.

There are plenty of reasons for the event to be a hit. Fortunately, according to the president of the IAF, Berndt Feuerbacher, who just visited Korea to check on the facilities and numerous other details for the event, the competence and professionalism of the people preparing for the IAC is very impressive.

“We have been very proactive about carving out the foreign market on our own. The moment we hear about an organization or association's satellite development plan, we grab our shoes to make physical contact to initiate collaboration. We are excited to meet more potential partners at IAC 2009 on October,” CEO Park finished.