South Korea’s first lunar mission is returning home images from its position in low lunar orbit.
Danurialso known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), is a spacex Falcon 9 The rocket reached lunar orbit in early August last year and four months later in mid-December. Milestone adds South Korea to exclusive club of successful nations Moon Mission, which also includes Japan, China and India.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has now released images from the $180 million Danuri showing the cratered and textured lunar surface in the foreground along the far side. Earth behind.
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The pictures were taken on December 24 and December 28 respectively by the Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI), which was developed by KARI. Engineers will use images from the camera to help identify sites for launch targeting a robotic South Korean lunar landing mission around 2032.
#달 달 다누리 가 sent certified shot 📷✨ 📷✨ 이 은 다누리 에 이 은 다누리 은 은 은 은 은 은 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 이 2) 12 yrs 28 yrs and 124 km time travel pic.twitter.com/pBC5Dw5X9MJanuary 3, 2023
After the 1,495-pound (678 kg) KPLO completed a series of burns in mid- and late-December, the spacecraft entered its planned orbit on December 26 with an average altitude of 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface. a curry Statement,
The orbiter is currently undergoing commissioning before beginning its official science mission, which is scheduled to last approximately one year.
Five of Danuri’s six payloads were developed by Kari, but NASA also has an instrument. shadowcam It was designed to scour permanently shadowed areas at the lunar poles for signs of water-ice deposits, potentially providing valuable data for future NASA missions. Artemis ProgramWhich aims to land astronauts on the Moon in 2025 or 2026.
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