Korea's First Lunar Orbiter 'Danuri' Executes Lunar Orbit Insertion Maneuver
Orbit Insertion Maneuver for First Lunar Mission at Dawn on the 17th, 135 Days After Launch
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Pyeonghwa] South Korea's first lunar orbiter, Danuri (KPLO), performed a lunar orbit insertion maneuver in the early morning of the 17th. The results of the maneuver will be announced on the 19th.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) stated that Danuri, after traveling a cumulative distance of 5.94 million km in space, executed the first lunar orbit insertion maneuver (LOI) at around 2:45 a.m. On August 8, it was launched from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the United States, and 135 days later, it performed the lunar orbit insertion maneuver.
The objective of this insertion maneuver was to reduce Danuri's speed so that it would be stably captured by the Moon's gravity and orbit without flying past the Moon. The KARI research team operated the thrusters for about 13 minutes, reducing Danuri's speed from approximately 8,000 km/h to 7,500 km/h. During this time, the propellant hydrazine was expelled in the opposite direction of Danuri's travel to perform retro-thrust. KARI explained that this was a highly challenging operation.
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The results of the first insertion maneuver will be released on the 19th after data analysis. The second insertion maneuver for Danuri is scheduled to take place three days later, on the 21st.
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