Danuri (a combination of the two Korean words meaning moon and enjoy) is South Korea's first lunar mission.

The objectives are to develop indigenous lunar exploration technologies, demonstrate a 'space internet,' conduct scientific investigations of the lunar environment, topography, and resources, and identify potential landing sites for future missions.

Spacecraft and Subsystems

The spacecraft has a cubic shape with two solar panel wings and a parabolic antenna mounted on a boom. The total mass is 550 kg. Communications are via S-band (telemetry and command) and X-band (payload data downlink). Power (760 W at 28 V) is provided through the solar panel arrays and rechargeable batteries. A monopropulsion system is used, with four 30N orbital maneuver thrusters and four 5N attitude control thrusters.

KPLO is equipped with five science instruments and a Disruption Tolerant Network experiment. The five experiments are a Lunar Terrain Image, a Wide-Angle Polarimetric Camera, a Magnetometer, a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer, and a high-sensitivity camera developed by NASA. Total scientific payload mass is about 40 kg.

LUTI

• Two high-resolution optical cameras (R ~ 5 m)
• To investigate candidate landing sites for Koreas future landing mission

PolCal

• The first polarimetry from lunar orbit
• Twin cameras mounted at 45º tilt angles from the nadir
• Polarimetric measurements at various phase angles up to ~140º
• 430 and 750 nm filters with polarization filters
• Additional 320 nm filter without polarization

KGRS (Gamma Ray Spectrometer)

• Will map spatial distribution of gamma ray energy (10 keV ~ 10 MeV)
• To investigate chemical composition of surface materials

KMAG (MAGnetometer)

• Three tri-axial magnetometers
• Mounted on a 1.2 m long boom

DTNPL (Disruptive Tolerance Network Experiment Payload)

• To conduct an interplanetary internet communication experiment on disruption tolerant networking

Mission Profile

KPLO will launch into a 300 km Earth orbit, followed by a translunar injection burn and a lunar transfer phase, bringing it to the Moon in mid-December. After capture into an elliptical lunar orbit, it will circularize to a 100 km nominal polar orbit, from which it will conduct science operations for approximately one year. If the mission has an extended phase, it will descend to a 70 km orbit or lower.

Courtesy of KARI, KASI

NASA has selected ShadowCam, an instrument developed by investigators at Arizona State University, and Malin Space Science Systems as a U.S. contribution to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s first lunar exploration mission. It will reduce risk, increase effectiveness, and improve the designs of future human and robotic missions.

​ShadowCam will map the reflectance within the permanently shadowed regions to search for evidence of frost or ice deposits. The instrument’s optical camera is based on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Narrow Angle Camera, but is 800 times more sensitive, allowing it to obtain high-resolution, high signal-to-noise imaging of the moon’s permanently shadowed regions.

The instrument will also observe the PSRs monthly to detect seasonal changes and measure the terrain inside the craters, including the distribution of boulders.

Courtesy of NASA

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.

Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket.

Stats
Total launches: 324

Total landings: 282

Total reflights: 255

The Falcon 9 has launched 49 humans into orbit since May 2020

Specs

Height: 70 m / 229.6 ft

Diameter: 3.7 m / 12 ft

Mass: 549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lb

Payload to LEO: 22,800 kg / 50,265 lb

Payload to GTO: 8,300 kg / 18,300 lb

Payload to Mars: 4,020 kg / 8,860 lb

On January 24, 2021, Falcon 9 launched the first ride-share mission to Sun Synchronous Orbit. It was delivering a record-setting 143 satellites to space. And while this was an important mission for SpaceX in itself, it was also the moment Falcon 9 overtook United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V for the total number of consecutive successful launches.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 had become America’s workhorse rocket, launching 31 times in 2021. It has already beaten that record this year, launching almost an average of once a week. While most of the launches deliver Starlink satellites to orbit, the company is still launching the most commercial payloads to orbit, too.

Falcon 9 is a medium-lift launch vehicle, with the capability to launch over 22.8 metric tonnes to low earth orbit. Unlike any other rocket, its first stage lands back on Earth after separating from its second stage. In part, this allows SpaceX to offer the cheapest option for most customers with payloads that need to reach orbit.

Under its ride-share program, a kilogram can be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit for a mere 1.1 million dollars, far cheaper than all other currently operating small satellite launch vehicles.

The reusability and fast booster turnaround times have made Falcon 9 the preferred choice for private companies and government agencies. This has allowed SpaceX to capture a huge portion of the launch market.

Image: SpaceX / Ben Cooper

This pad is one of two Florida launch sites leased by SpaceX to prepare and launch its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

Built in the early 1960s, SLC-40 was used to launch 55 Titan III and Titan IV rockets, including the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, between June 18th, 1965 and April 30th, 2005.

In 2007, SpaceX leased the pad and converted it to launch the original version of Falcon 9.  It was upgraded again in 2013 to accommodate the larger, reusable Falcon 9 rocket

An accident on September 1st, 2016 destroyed the pad when a Falcon 9 blew up during a fueling and engine test.

The pad was completely rebuilt in just 10 months from mid-February to late-November 2017 and re-entered service with the December 15th, 2017 launch of a cargo Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.

Under SpaceX, the pad has seen many significant payloads launched from its grounds, including:

- the first all-commercial ship (Dragon) to reach the International Space Station

- the DSCOVR mission for NASA

- the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) for NASA and MIT

- the first Turkmenistan satellite

- the classified Zuma mission for Northrop Grumman and the U.S. government

- the first GPS-III satellite

- the Beresheet lunar lander for Israel

Cape Canaveral

SLC-40 is located on Cape Canaveral, the primary launch center for the United States.

The Cape has four currently-active launch pads for the Atlas V, Delta IV Heavy, Falcon 9, and Minotaur rockets.

Located on Florida’s east coast, Cape Canaveral provides a wide range of access to space for missions to the Space Station, Geostationary Earth Orbit, the Moon, inter-planetary targets, polar trajectories, and more.

The Cape is ideally suited for reaching all locations in space the U.S. needs access to while launching exclusively out over the open Atlantic Ocean so as not to endanger anyone on the ground.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which occupies neighboring Merritt Island, and Cape Canaveral are often confused with each other or referred to as a single place.  They are in fact separate government installations and launch sites.

Cape Canaveral has hosted numerous history-making rocket launches:

- first U.S. Earth satellite in 1958

- first U.S. astronaut in 1961

- first U.S. astronaut in orbit in 1962

- first two-person U.S. spacecraft 1965

- first U.S. uncrewed lunar landing in 1966

The site was renamed in December of 2020 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in accordance with the new branch of the U.S. military its operations fall under.

Credit: Jenny Hautmann for Supercluster