[DigitalToday reporter Dae-geon Seok] Hanwha Group and KAIST said on May 19 they have begun recruiting participants for the fifth cohort of their jointly hosted youth space talent development programme, "Pebbles of the Universe". The application period runs from May 18 to June 12, and any first- or second-year middle school student nationwide can apply. This year's programme theme is "space technology for South Korea".

The selection process consists of an essay review in the first round and a discussion and interview in the second. A total of 30 students will be selected. Starting with a humanities conference in July, selected students will carry out team-based space mission projects for six months through December. A research results presentation and graduation ceremony will be held in January next year. Graduates will receive a certificate in the name of the KAIST president, an opportunity to take courses at the KAIST Gifted Education Institute and KAIST mentoring benefits.

Participants will carry out the process as a team project, from selecting a topic through developing the logic and producing results, under the guidance of KAIST aerospace engineering faculty and master's and doctoral mentors. This follows the same method as team projects conducted at KAIST. Graduates will also be given opportunities to visit overseas space institutions. Last year's graduates visited NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the United States, UCLA's Infrastructure Sensing and Robotics Laboratory and USC's Space Engineering Research Center (SERC).

"Pebbles of the Universe," launched in 2022, has produced about 130 graduates through its first four cohorts. Cohort themes were, in order, lunar exploration, Mars exploration, space technology for Earth and exploration beyond the solar system. Opportunities are also provided for networking between cohorts and participation in follow-up programmes. Hanwha Group is advancing a space strategy through aerospace vertical integration based on Hanwha Aerospace's successful fourth launch of the Nuri rocket last year and Hanwha Systems' establishment of the Jeju Space Center.

A Hanwha official said, "'Pebbles of the Universe' is a Hanwha Group social contribution project to build national competitiveness in the space business, which will be a future battleground for global companies." The official added, "We believe corporate competitiveness ultimately starts with talent, and we will contribute to strengthening national and global competitiveness by nurturing space science talent who will become the leading figures of a 'Korean version of SpaceX.'"