DANURI PAVES WAY FOR LUNAR EXPLORATION

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We reported briefly yesterday about Korea's pathfinder lunar orbiter Danuri successfully entering the moon's targeted orbit. From now on, Danuri is set to begin its mission in full for the development of aerospace research such as finding a potential lunar landing site. The third launch of the space rocket Nuri is slated for the first half of 2023. Through such developments, the government ultimately plans to send into space a domestically developed low Earth orbit satellite and a lunar lander from Korea.

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The Korea pathfinder lunar orbiter Danuri is set to begin its mission in full in February following several more successful maneuvers to enter its target orbit. Danuri's primary mission is to find a potential lunar landing site. It will observe the Moon's surface through a high-resolution camera to find a site for a lunar lander that Korea plans to send in the year 2032. It will also find out if there is water on the Moon's south pole, and assist in finding a site for the U.S.' own Moon landing project. One of Danuri's other important tasks is to find if there are titanium reserves on the Moon. The attempt to map the texture of the Moon's surface using polarized light and establish space-based internet communication will be the world's first.

[Soundbite] Kim Dae-kwan(Korea Aerospace Research Institute) : "Danuri's advantage is to operate its six payloads in diverse ways simultaneously. What's especially important is that it will be the world's first to take polarized images of the other side of the Moon. Creating polarized images of the whole Moon is particularly exciting."

The orbiter currently has one-third of its fuel left, enough to carry out its missions for one year. Data collected by Danuri is expected to help upgrade lunar exploration technology.

[Soundbite] Prof. Jin Ho(Kyunghee University) : "The Moon is the closest celestial body that we visit for exploration. Developing moon exploration technologies is an important goal for us."

The third launch of the space rocket Nuri is slated for the first half of 2023. The government plans to launch the rocket four more times to improve the performance of the space launch vehicle, and send into space a domestically developed low Earth orbit satellite and a lunar lander from Korea.