South Korea will invest 37.47 billion won in developing a solar-powered drone that could carry over 20 kilograms in the stratosphere and with natural disaster monitoring capability by 2025.
The drone will serve as an affordable alternative to their observation satellites, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. It also won't create any space trash.
The ministry added that the solar-powered drone will be able to continuously fly in the stratosphere for over one month.
Last year, the solar-powered drone that the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has been developing since 2010 completed a 53-hour flight that included 16 hours in the stratosphere, which is 10 to 50 kilometers above the Earth's surface.
South Korea plans to commercialize flying drone taxis by 2025.