'Korea's First Lunar Orbiter' Danuri Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit

Ministry of Science and ICT & KAIST Official Announcement
Two Days Earlier Than KAIST's Original Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] South Korea's lunar orbiter 'Danuri' has successfully settled into its mission orbit 100km above the moon after repeated smooth cruising. This achievement is notable not only for its trouble-free progress but also for being two days ahead of the original schedule.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced on the 28th that Danuri successfully entered lunar orbit on the 27th.

Danuri performed its final (third) mission orbit insertion maneuver at 11:06 on the 26th. It is currently orbiting the moon approximately every two hours at the target mission orbit of 100km ± 30km above the lunar surface. The lunar orbit insertion maneuver refers to the operation of using the orbiter's thrusters to reduce speed and settle into the mission orbit around the moon.

As Danuri continued to cruise better than expected, the total number of planned lunar orbit insertion maneuvers, originally five, was shortened to three. On the 17th, Danuri successfully secured flight data and confirmed maneuver operation stability through the first insertion maneuver.

Accordingly, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute had planned five insertion maneuvers on the 17th, 21st, 23rd, 26th, and 28th, but reduced the remaining four maneuvers to two. As a result, the third maneuver on the 23rd and the fifth maneuver on the 28th were omitted. Danuri's lunar orbit insertion was confirmed on the 27th, two days earlier than the original plan of the 29th.

Danuri was launched in early August from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9. It is South Korea's first independently developed lunar exploration orbiter. It will carry out its mission for about one year in a 100km orbit above the moon. Equipped with a high-performance camera, wide-field polarization camera, magnetometer, gamma-ray detector, and space internet equipment, it will observe the lunar surface in detail. It also carries NASA's ShadowCam, designed to photograph permanently shadowed regions, to scout potential sites for humanity's second lunar landing mission planned after 2025.

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