Korean Technology Concentrated in Danuri... Launching Moon Exploration Journey Tomorrow (Comprehensive)

Ministry of Science and ICT: "No Anomalies in Inspection, Weather Expected to Be Good on Launch Day"
Confirmation of Transfer Orbit Entry Around 1-2 PM on Launch Day

Korea's first lunar probe, Danuri, will be launched on the morning of the 5th from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. The photo shows Danuri undergoing final inspections at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) in Daejeon ahead of its transfer to the United States last May.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA = Joint Coverage Team] South Korea's first lunar probe, Danuri, will be launched on the morning of the 5th. It marks the first step in South Korea's space exploration, making it the seventh country in the world to conduct lunar exploration. Globally, it is the most precise lunar mission since the Apollo project by the United States in the 1960s and 70s. It is expected to play a leading role in humanity's lunar pioneering efforts, including confirming the presence of water and resource exploration.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) on the 4th, Danuri was transported to Launch Pad 40 at the U.S. Space Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, attached to the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle's fairing (satellite protective cover) module, and is now in a vertical position. The Falcon 9 rocket carrying Danuri is scheduled to launch at approximately 8:08 a.m. on the 5th (Korean time).

Danuri arrived at the site on the 7th of last month and completed preparations including system checks. The launch was initially scheduled for the morning of the 3rd but was postponed by two days due to an anomaly detected in the first stage engine sensor of the Falcon 9 rocket. Kim Dae-kwan, head of KARI’s lunar exploration project team, explained, "The first stage of Falcon 9 is reusable, so anomalies are common during routine inspections. The recovery process has been completed, and since the launch window was open anytime between the 2nd and 8th locally, there is no major issue." Danuri is expected to separate from Falcon 9 40 minutes after launch and enter lunar transfer orbit. KARI plans to establish first contact one hour after launch and will announce the success of the launch around 1 to 2 p.m. on the same day after orbit analysis.

Danuri adopts a ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) method. Immediately after escaping Earth's atmosphere, it will travel straight to the Lagrange point (about 1.56 million km), where Earth's and the Sun's gravity balance, then loop back to enter lunar orbit around late December. Unlike the direct transfer method (3 days) used in the U.S. Apollo project, this method takes about four and a half months but saves more than 20% of fuel, extending mission life. Danuri will perform missions such as selecting South Korea's first lunar landing candidate site by 2030, conducting various scientific experiments, and capturing images of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions for NASA. Equipped with domestically produced high-resolution cameras, wide-field polarization cameras, magnetometers, and gamma-ray detectors, it will conduct scientific experiments including lunar surface mapping, geological surveys, and resource distribution analysis. Using space internet equipment, it will also conduct experiments for establishing international standards for deep space communication, including streaming BTS’s music videos. NASA’s permanently shadowed region camera (ShadowCam) is also attracting attention. It will precisely photograph the Moon’s polar permanently shadowed areas, which have never received sunlight and remain at extremely low temperatures, to verify the presence of water in ice form. This data will be used to determine the site for humanity’s second manned lunar landing planned after 2025.

Lee Sang-ryul, KARI President, said, "Falcon 9 is a reliable launch vehicle with a success rate of 98.8%, and we expect the Danuri launch mission to be successfully carried out. Once Danuri separates from the launch vehicle and enters the lunar transfer trajectory, its autonomous flight will begin, and given the concentration of our technological capabilities, the lunar transfer flight will also succeed."

Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT, stated, "NASA’s inclusion of ShadowCam on Danuri signifies recognition of South Korea as a cooperative partner in space exploration. We will further expand cooperation with the U.S. in deep space exploration, including the Moon and Mars."

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