Danuri
A rendered image of KPLO | |
| Names | KPLO |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Lunar orbiter |
| Operator | Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) |
| COSPAR ID | 2022-094A |
| SATCAT no. | 53365 |
| Website | www |
| Mission duration | 1050 days and 19 hours (elapsed) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) |
| Launch mass | 678 kg (1,495 lb) |
| Dry mass | c. 550 kg (1,210 lb) |
| Payload mass | 40 kg (88 lb) |
| Power | 760 watts |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 4 August 2022, 23:08:48 UTC |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral (CCSFS), SLC-40 |
| Contractor | SpaceX |
| Moon orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | 17 December 2022 KST (1st) 28 December 2022 KST (5th) |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Periselene altitude | 100 km |
| Aposelene altitude | 100 km |
| Inclination | 90° (polar) |
| Transponders | |
| Band | S-band, X-band |
| Instruments | |
| Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI) Wide-Angle Polarimetric Camera (PolCam) KPLO Magnetometer (KMAG) KPLO Gamma Ray Spectrometer (KGRS) Delay-Tolerant Networking experiment (DTNPL) ShadowCam (NASA) | |
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), officially Danuri, is South Korea's first lunar mission. The orbiter, its science payload and ground control infrastructure are technology demonstrators. The orbiter will also be tasked with surveying lunar resources such as water ice, uranium, helium-3, silicon, and aluminium, and produce a topographic map to help select future lunar landing sites.
The mission was launched on 4 August 2022 on a Falcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle. It was inserted into orbit around the Moon on 16 December 2022 (UTC).