News News Service, Sejong, December 28. According to Korea Aerospace Research Institute28, the first lunar orbit probe "Danuri" independently developed by South Korea successfully entered the scheduled orbit around the moon the day before.
The picture shows the "Falcon 9" rocket of the US Space Exploration Technology Company (SpaceX) launched at 8:09 a.m. on the 5th.
"Danuri" performed its last orbit change on the 26th, entering the scheduled lunar mission orbit (100±30 kilometers from the lunar surface), and orbiting the moon in a period of about 2 hours.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute originally planned to carry out five orbit-changing missions for the "Danuri" probe. The first orbit change was carried out on the 17th. "Danuri" successfully transmitted flight data to the ground and confirmed its operational stability.
Subsequently, the department decided to reduce the remaining four orbit changes to two, which also allowed "Danuri" to successfully enter the lunar orbit faster than expected.
South Korean President Yin Xiyue issued a message to express his congratulations. He said that "Danuri" successfully entered the lunar orbit, and South Korea demonstrated its superiority in space science and technology to the world. It was also a historic moment for South Korea to become one of the world's seven major aerospace powers.
In addition, the first lunar orbit probe "Danuri" developed by South Korea was launched from the Space Force Base in Florida, USA, at 8:08 am on August 5, carrying the "Falcon 9" rocket of the American Space Exploration Technology Company (SpaceX).
The detector took 6 years to develop and cost US$180 million. It is equipped with five scientific instruments including a gamma ray spectrometer, a length measuring device, a shadow camera and a polarization camera. After its launch, the probe entered the lunar orbit in December this year after a voyage of about 4.5 months, and will officially carry out its mission in January 2023 for a period of one year.
In addition, the name "Danuri" is a combination of Korean the pronunciation of the moon "Dal" and the pronunciation of the word "share" "Nuri", which means that all people can share the beauty of the moon and hope that the launch of the first lunar orbit probe will be successful.
Source of the article: Korea News Channel (NEWSPIM·뉴스핌) news agency
