Danuri

This article is about the South Korean lunar space probe. For the Indonesian police officer, see Bambang Hendarso Danuri.

Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO)
A rendered image of KPLO
NamesKPLO
Mission typeLunar orbiter
OperatorKorea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)
COSPAR ID2022-094A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.53365Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.kari.re.kr/eng/sub03_07_01.do
Mission duration840 days, 13 hours and 34 minutes (elapsed)
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerKorea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)
Launch mass678 kg (1,495 lb)[1][2]
Dry massc. 550 kg (1,210 lb) [3]
Payload mass40 kg (88 lb)
Power760 watts[4]
Start of mission
Launch date4 August 2022, 23:08:48 UTC[5]
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5
Launch siteCape Canaveral (CCSFS),
SLC-40
ContractorSpaceX
Moon orbiter
Orbital insertion17 December 2022 KST (1st)
28 December 2022 KST (5th)[6]
Orbital parameters
Periselene altitude100 km[6]
Aposelene altitude100 km
Inclination90° (polar)
Transponders
BandS-band, X-band[4][7]
Instruments
Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI)
Wide-Angle Polarimetric Camera (PolCam)
KPLO Magnetometer (KMAG)
KPLO Gamma Ray Spectrometer (KGRS)
Delay-Tolerant Networking experiment (DTNPL)
ShadowCam (NASA)
Phase 2: lander and rover →

The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), officially Danuri,[8] is South Korea's first lunar orbiter. The orbiter, its science payload and ground control infrastructure are technology demonstrators. The orbiter will also be tasked with surveying lunar resources such as water ice, uranium, helium-3, silicon, and aluminium, and produce a topographic map to help select future lunar landing sites.

The mission was launched on 4 August 2022 on a Falcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle.[5] It was inserted into orbit around the Moon on 16 December 2022 (UTC).[9]

  1. ^ Kang, Il-yong (17 May 2022). "[K-스페이스 시대] ② 한국 최초 달 탐사선 오는 8월 발사...7번째 달 탐사국 이름 올린다" [[K-Space Era] ② Korea's first lunar probe to be launched in August... 7th lunar probe to be named]. Aju Business Daily (in Korean). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  2. ^ Clark, Stephen (20 September 2019). "Launch of South Korean lunar orbiter delayed to 2022". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference G-ray 2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b "Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO)". NASA. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ a b S.Korean Spaceflight [@KOR_Spaceflight] (28 July 2022). "Danuri(KPLO) launch now scheduled for August 5th 08:08 KST, according to MSIT/KARI" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ a b "다누리, 달 임무궤도 진입 시작" [Danuri begins entering lunar mission orbit]. Ministry of Science and ICT. 15 December 2022.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Update 2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Kan, Hyeong-woo (23 May 2022). "Korea's first lunar mission named 'Danuri'". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  9. ^ "South Korea's 1st moon probe Danuri begins to enter lunar orbit". Space.com. 17 December 2022.