The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri, was launched into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket last August. It reached its target orbit around the Moon on December 27.
It will remain in lunar orbit, at a distance of about 100 kilometers from the lunar surface, for 11 months.
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The obtained data will be used, among other things, by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to explore the lunar landscape as part of the planned missions of the Artemis program. Its goal is to land a crew on the South Pole of the Moon by the end of 2024.
“Enjoy the Moon”. A South Korean probe is basking in lunar orbit
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Images from the probe could help select landing sites or map lunar resources such as water. The probe examines the surface using six instruments, in addition to a high-resolution camera, it also carries equipment for analyzing surface particles or measuring the Moon’s magnetic field.
According to CNN, Danuri’s main goal is to take images of the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles.
During its work from lunar orbit, the probe, for example, captured the “East of the Earth” at the turn of the year along with craters dotted with the Moon. On her way to the natural satellite, she took a picture of our planet alone and recorded the moon’s orbit around the Earth every day since September.
South Korea has been accelerating its space program in recent years. For example, last June, for the first time, it managed to transport a satellite into orbit around the Earth with a rocket of its own production.
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