The first Moon mission between South Korea and SpaceX has begun. SpaceX launched the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) Moon vehicle with a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission is expected to take about four months and KPLO is expected to orbit the Moon.
SpaceX and South Korea travel to the Moon with KPLO
The first phase of the launch, which took place in the USA in the past hours, was successful. As part of the mission, the KPLO or Danuri vehicle was launched with the Falcon 9 rocket. This is South Korea’s first Moon mission, and also one of SpaceX’s rare flights to the Moon.
Deployment of KPLO confirmed pic.twitter.com/ctco6Qsmdi
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 4, 2022
The spacecraft named KPLO, designed by NASA and South Korea’s space agency, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, wants to sit in lunar orbit after a four-month journey. KPLO relies on the ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) method to achieve its goal.
This; It means that the Earth, Sun and Moon will use gravity. South Korea, which has tried the BLT technique to make it less costly than other Moon missions, will also take longer to reach the Moon. Calculations point to four and a half months ahead (like mid-December).
Once the Danuri vehicle orbits the Moon, it is requested to begin its research missions. Within the scope of these missions, there are targets such as developing space technologies by researching the lunar surface.
Within the scope of this task, South Korea joined the caravan of countries doing research on the Moon. It has previously conducted Moon missions to the USA, Russia, ESA (European Space Agency) and China.
It should be noted that Danuri is also important to SpaceX. Because the general goal of the space company is to launch to the ISS and Mars orbit. The Beresheet mission he launched with Israel had failed, crashing into the surface of the Moon.
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