"Finally to the Moon"... Korea's First Lunar Probe Danuri Launch 'Countdown'

Launch Scheduled for 8:08 AM on the 5th
4-and-a-Half-Month Journey to the Moon Begins

At 3 a.m. KST on the 5th, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carrying South Korea's first lunar probe, Danuri, stood upright and awaited launch at Launch Complex 40 of the U.S. Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is scheduled to launch at 8:08 a.m. that day. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA = Joint Coverage Team] South Korea's first lunar probe 'Danuri' is mounted on SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle at Launch Pad 40 of the U.S. Space Force base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, ahead of its scheduled launch on the morning of the 5th.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the local weather conditions are favorable, and inspections have found no abnormalities, making the launch possible as planned.

Danuri is set to launch at 8:08 a.m. (Korean time) on the day, beginning its approximately four-and-a-half-month journey to the Moon. Forty minutes after launch, it will separate from the rocket and start its long journey using its own propulsion. After separation, it will travel to the Lagrange point (about 1.56 million km away), where Earth's and the Sun's gravity balance. In mid-September, it will change direction and use Earth's gravity to slingshot back, entering lunar orbit via a ballistic lunar transfer trajectory.

By the end of December this year, it is expected to enter lunar orbit and orbit at an altitude of 100 km about 12 times a day while performing various missions. Its main tasks include creating a detailed lunar surface map to select South Korea's lunar landing candidate sites by 2030, analyzing geological composition and resource distribution, and measuring magnetic fields and gamma rays.

Using the permanently shadowed region camera (ShadowCam) developed by NASA, it will photograph the Moon's polar regions that receive no sunlight to confirm the presence of water and create maps. This data will be used for humanity's second lunar landing mission planned after 2025. It will also conduct the first internet communication experiment on the Moon using space internet equipment. Notably, it plans to stream BTS's 'Dynamite' music video, attracting attention from Hallyu fans worldwide.

If Danuri's launch succeeds, South Korea will become one of the few countries to have entered all three major space development sectors: satellites, launch vehicles, and exploration. It will join the ranks of lunar exploration nations as the seventh in the world, following the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and Europe. If the mission is successfully completed, South Korea could become a pioneer in space exploration and a guide for humanity's advancement to the Moon.

At 3 a.m. KST on the 5th, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carrying South Korea's first lunar probe, Danuri, stood upright and awaited launch at Launch Complex 40 of the U.S. Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is scheduled to launch at 8:08 a.m. that day. Photo by Joint Press Corps

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