SpaceX Launches South Korea's First Lunar Mission
The probe will enter lunar orbit in December and begin its near-lunar year-long observation mission. According to the mission plan, the vehicle will search for possible landing sites on the Moon as well as test space Internet technology.
South Korea launched its first lunar mission on August 4. The spacecraft was sent into orbit by the American space company SpaceX, and it will not reach its target orbit until December. The country aims to land a probe on the Moon by 2030.
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also called Danuri, was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from the U.S. Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The probe will enter lunar orbit in December and begin its near-lunar year-long observation mission. According to the mission plan, the vehicle will search for possible landing sites on the Moon as well as test space Internet technology.
The orbiter carries six science instruments, including a gamma-ray spectrometer, a magnetometer, an experimental communications system, and three cameras, one of which is designed and provided by NASA.
If the mission is successful, South Korea will become the seventh lunar explorer in the world and the fourth in Asia after China, Japan, and India.