Stormy Sea and Leita Valley... First Photos of the Moon's Surface from Korea Revealed

Published 13 Feb.2023 14:00(KST)

Updated 13 Feb.2023 14:44(KST)

Danuri Completes One Month of Test Operations and Begins Official Mission from the 4th

The Sea of Storms, Raita Valley, the Sea of Rain... Photos of the lunar surface once traversed by the Apollo astronauts of the 1970s in the United States can now be appreciated through images taken by South Korea. Korea's first lunar probe, Danuri, officially began operations on the 4th and has released photos taken during its one-month trial operation period.

On the 13th, the Ministry of Science and ICT disclosed photos taken by Danuri, South Korea's first lunar probe, during its one-month trial operation period on the Moon.

On January 5th, our country's first lunar probe, Danuri, captured the Reita Valley with a high-resolution camera. Photo by Korea Aerospace Research Institute

Danuri entered its lunar mission orbit on December 27th last year. From January 2nd to February 3rd of this year, it underwent about one month of trial operations. During this period, Danuri successfully captured high-resolution images of the lunar surface from its lunar mission orbit (approximately 100 km above the Moon). According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, these are the first photos of the lunar surface taken by South Korea on the Moon.

On January 13, Korea's first lunar probe, Danuri, captured the 'Mare Imbrium' on the moon's surface with a high-resolution camera. Photo by Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

On this day, the Ministry of Science and ICT released photos taken on January 5th of Raita Valley, January 13th of the Sea of Storms, and January 10th of the Sea of Rain. Additionally, they disclosed images captured by Danuri from the 6th of last month to the 4th of this month, where it photographed Earth once daily to observe how Earth's phases change when viewed from the Moon.

The first Korean lunar probe, Danuri, captured the changing phases of the Earth from its lunar mission orbit over about a month, from the 6th of last month to the 4th of this month. Photo by Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

During the trial operation, Danuri switched to an operation mode optimized for mission execution (Earth-Moon navigation mode → mission operation mode) and checked the performance of its main components and payloads. After switching to mission operation mode, the performance and safety of Danuri's main body were confirmed. During the payload performance verification process, it was also confirmed that performance and data transmission were satisfactory.

Korea's first lunar probe, Danuri, captured the Sea of Rain on the lunar surface with a high-resolution camera on January 10. Photo by Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

Danuri began normal mission operations on the 4th and plans to carry out scientific and technological missions using six payloads until the end of this year, including lunar scientific research (such as lunar surface polarization imaging observation, magnetic field and radiation observation) and space internet technology verification.