SBI Investment Portfolio Company Lumir Steps Up Plans for an 18-Satellite Ultra-High-Resolution SAR Constellation… First-Half Revenue Up 79%

• Lumir, an SBI Investment portfolio company developing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, is expanding into satellite data sales. Drawing on technology accumulated through government satellite programs, including supplying the C-band SAR system for Compact Advanced Satellite 500 No. 5, localizing the image data handling unit (IDHU) and control moment gyro controller, and developing communication equipment for the lunar orbiter Danuri, it has independently developed ‘LUMIR-X,’ a small SAR satellite with 0.3 m-class ultra-high resolution. It plans to launch the first unit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in the second half of this year and build a constellation of 18 satellites by 2031.
• First-half revenue rose 79% year on year to KRW 6.1 billion from KRW 3.4 billion (KRW 3.3 billion from space and KRW 2.8 billion from maritime), and the company is focused on growth, investing KRW 5.3 billion, equivalent to 86% of revenue, in R&D. In May, it issued KRW 33 billion in perpetual bonds, subscribed by Samsung-Principal New Space Tech Investment Fund No. 1 and the 2022 Samsung SBI ESG Fund, securing funding for the manufacture and launch of LUMIR-X (KRW 21 billion) and the construction of production and test facilities (KRW 12 billion). It maintains a stable financial structure, with cash and cash equivalents of KRW 23.7 billion and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.1%.
• Lumir is participating in the Korea Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communications Industry Council (K-LEO), led by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, where it is developing Ka-band transmitters and active array antennas. It plans to target the defense and security, disaster response and infrastructure monitoring markets with its satellite imagery sales platform ‘SARDIP’ and AI services such as ship and aircraft object detection and InSAR-based surface change analysis. Following the launch of LUMIR-X, monetization of its satellite data and LEO satellite communications businesses is expected to gain momentum.

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https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/293/0000090750?sid=105