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South Korea’s first lunar mission is to send back images home from its position in low lunar orbit.
Danorialso known as the Korean Pathfinder Orbiter (KPLO), which was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early August last year and arrived in lunar orbit four months later, in mid-December. This achievement adds South Korea to the club of exclusive nations successfully Moon Missions, which also include Japan, China and India, among others.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has now released $180 million worth of images from Danuri that show the crater and textured surface of the moon in the foreground with the distant Land behind.
Related: The South Korean satellite will explore lunar magnetic mysteries and more
The images were taken on December 24 and December 28, respectively, by the Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI), developed by KARI. Engineers will use images from the camera to help locate a robotic lunar lander in South Korea, aimed at launching around 2032.
# 24 일 달 상공 344 km 에서 촬영 한 사진 2) 12 월 28 일 달 상공 124 km 에서 촬영 한 사진 pic.twitter.com/pBC5Dw5X9MJanuary 3, 2023
The 1,495-pound (678-kilogram) KPLO completed a series of burns during mid-to-late December, with the spacecraft entering its planned orbit at an average altitude of 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface on Dec. 26, according to Carey. statment.
The probe is currently undergoing commissioning before the start of its official science mission, which is scheduled to last about a year.
Five of Danuri’s six payloads were developed by KARI, but NASA also has an onboard instrument. ShadowCam It was designed to scope out permanently shaded regions at the moon’s poles for hints of water ice deposits, which could provide valuable data for future NASA missions. Artemis programwhich aims to land astronauts on the moon in 2025 or 2026.
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