South Korea's First Lunar Probe Danuri Faces Final Challenge

First Lunar Orbit Insertion Maneuver Conducted at 2:45 AM on the 17th
Goal to Achieve Mission Orbit 100km Above the Moon with a Total of 5 Maneuvers by the 28th

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] South Korea's first lunar exploration orbiter, Danuri, is facing the final hurdle to enter its target lunar mission orbit.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced on the 15th that Danuri will perform its first orbit insertion maneuver (LOI) for the lunar mission orbit entry at 2:45 a.m. on the 17th.

Since its launch on August 5th, Danuri has flown a total of 5.94 million km (cumulative) along the Earth-Moon transfer trajectory for about 4.5 months. On the 17th, it will approach to about 108 km from the Moon. Then, through five lunar orbit insertion maneuvers between the 17th and 28th, it aims to settle into the mission orbit at 100 km above the lunar surface.

To achieve this, Danuri must use its thrusters to reduce speed from the first maneuver and be captured by the Moon's gravity. For about 13 minutes, the thrusters will be fired to decelerate Danuri's speed from approximately 8,000 km/h to 7,500 km/h while precisely adjusting to the target position to avoid overshooting the Moon. This is a highly challenging operation, inserting Danuri (moving at 7,500?8,000 km/h) into the lunar orbit faster than a bullet (about 3,600 km/h) traveling at bullet speed. The results of the first orbit insertion maneuver will be analyzed and announced on the 19th. Afterward, the thrusters will be fired four more times for orbit correction maneuvers, with the goal of settling into the mission orbit by the 29th.

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