What is the Korean-made 'Monitor' Taken by NASA Used For?

- Research Team from KAIST and Kyung Hee University Develops 'Lunar Space Environment Monitor'
- Confirmed for NASA's 2024 Lunar Unmanned Lander,
- Aimed at Measuring High-Energy Particles in Space and on the Lunar Surface
- "Essential Research for Deep Space Exploration"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "We measure high-energy particles coming from space to study the potential risks they pose to humans and spacecraft. Since humans and spacecraft are exposed to high-energy particles for extended periods during deep space exploration, ensuring safety is essential."

On the 18th (Korean time), NASA announced that it will equip the 'Lunar Space Environment Monitor' (LUSEM), developed by Korea, on an unmanned exploration lander as part of the 2024 Artemis program.

LUSEM is designed to study how 'high-energy particles' coming from space affect astronauts and spacecraft in areas with almost no atmosphere, such as the lunar surface. It is a detector capable of detecting high-energy particles above 50 kilo-electron volts (keV) on the moon's surface. An electron volt (eV) is a unit measuring the energy of electrically charged particles; 1 eV is the energy gained by a particle with a charge of 1.6×10^-19 C accelerated through a potential difference of 1 V. Unlike Earth, which has an atmosphere, high-energy particles from space can be detected in outer space and on the lunar surface. The issue is that the effects on astronauts' health and spacecraft have not yet been fully verified.

NASA and Korean researchers consider this study essential for future manned deep space exploration and have decided to proceed with this project to conduct in-depth research on the effects of high-energy particles. They have completed the conceptual design and engineering model (prototype) and plan to produce a qualification model, identical to the monitor to be used, to verify its operation in the space environment, as well as a flight model to be mounted on the actual lunar lander.

Specifically, two SSTs (Solid State Telescopes) are designed to simultaneously face both the lunar sky and the lunar surface. This allows detection of particles incident from space onto the moon and particles reflected from the lunar surface. It is a silicon detector-based charged particle detector, also called a high-energy particle detector, capable of measuring high-energy particles in the range of tens of keV to tens of MeV. It will observe high-energy particles in near-Earth space environment, lunar orbit, and on the lunar surface. That is, after launch, it will begin observations once it leaves Earth orbit, measuring high-energy particles in the near-Earth space environment while en route to the moon, continue observations during descent to the landing site after arriving in lunar orbit, and maintain continuous observation on the lunar surface thereafter.

LUSEM is being developed under the leadership of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute by Professor Sun Jong-ho’s research team at Kyung Hee University. Professor Sun’s team has experience developing the high-energy particle detector for the space weather payload (KSEM) onboard the 2018 GEO satellite Chollian 2A. Based on this development experience and scientific necessity, they proposed the development of the lunar space environment monitor, and NASA confirmed the mounting plan on the same day. A Ministry of Science and ICT official explained, "The lunar space environment monitor will observe high-energy particles above 50 keV, which have never been measured in programs like Apollo, enabling scientific research on space weathering effects on airless celestial bodies and the interactions between the geomagnetic field and the moon."

Meanwhile, NASA selected Intuitive Machines as the manufacturer of the unmanned lunar lander to be launched in 2024 carrying LUSEM on the same day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.