Jakarta –
South Korea just launched its first space mission to Moon. This mission will be the start of the exploration effort outer space by a more ambitious South Korea in the future. Come on Indonesia don’t want to lose!
Mission named Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO)or also known as Danuricarried into the sky on a Falcon 9 rocket belonging to SpaceX. The mission was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States at 7:08 p.m. local time.
After a 40-minute journey into orbit, Danuri separated from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket and continued its journey to the Moon. The first stage rocket itself landed directly on SpaceX’s drone ship nine minutes after the lift off.
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Danuri will be South Korea’s first space mission to go beyond low-Earth orbit. The name Danuri was chosen following a combination of the two words for ‘Moon’ and ‘enjoy’ in Korean.
Arriving in the orbit of the Moon, Danuri will immediately carry out several scientific missions such as studying the Moon’s magnetic field, counting the number of elements and molecules such as uranium, water, and helium-3, and taking photos of dark craters at the poles that are never exposed to sunlight.
Danuri equipped with six scientific instruments, five of which were developed in-house in Korea and one ShadowCam camera donated by NASA. This NASA camera will be used by Danuri to look for water ice hiding in the craters of the Moon.
The spacecraft weighing 678 kilograms will make a long journey to the Moon. Danuri will initially fly towards the sun, then circle back to be pulled by the Moon’s orbit and will arrive at its destination in December. This route is indeed more time consuming but more fuel efficient, as quoted from the New York Times, Saturday (6/8/2022).
This USD 180 million or around Rp 2.6 trillion mission will last for one year. If Danuri makes it to the Moon, this spacecraft will accompany NASA, India and China’s space probes currently in lunar orbit.
South Korea already have long-term plans for further space exploration efforts. After the Danuri mission, South Korea will land a robot on the lunar surface by 2030.
Watch Videos”Danuri Becomes Name for South Korea’s First Moon Orbiter“
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