Danuri: A Giant Leap for South Korea’s Space Exploration
- Sungmin (Min) Han
- Aug 1, 2024
- 4 min read
August is one of the most important months celebrated in South Korea, mostly because South Korea met its independence on August 15, 1945. After liberation from 35 years of Japanese rule, Korea was permanently separated into North and South regions. Unfortunately, after only 5 years of independence, South Korea ended up having to go through a tragic war with North Korea (enemies being people who had previously fought for independence together). After the Korean War, South Korea was left with only a miserable future; South Korea was listed as one of the world's "least developed countries" in the 1950s, right after the Korean war ended.
Despite its devastating history, South Korea has developed into one of the world's most advanced economies as a result of the "Miracle on the Han River". The term "Miracle on the Han River" refers to South Korea's period of rapid economic growth between 1953 and 1997. The miracle of South Korea's economic growth has caused development in a variety of areas, such as culture, society, and technology. Specifically, The "Miracle on the Han River" opened the way for major technological improvement of South Korea. Today, South Korea is one of the few nations in the world with significant technological power. Particularly, one of South Korea's most important scientific industries is and will continue to be the aerospace industry.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) was established on October 10, 1989. Until now, it is one of the most important institutes in South Korea's aerospace industry. KARI was established to investigate, research, and develop aerospace technology in order to improve the country’s scientific abilities. The KARI serves important functions such as research on comprehensive systems and core technology development for aircraft, artificial satellites, and space launch vehicles, and support for national aerospace development and establishment. Over the last 30 years, KARI has made significant contributions to South Korea's aerospace industry. The first launch of KSR-I, South Korea's first observation rocket, occurred in 1993. KSR-II was launched between 1997 and 1998, improving the rocket technology. KSLV-I was launched from 2009 to 2013, and KSLV-II launched between 2021 and 2023. Not only did rockets develop, satellites also developed as well. Since 1999, the KARI has built the KOMPSATs, also known as the Arirang Satellites, to increase Korea's satellite operations. Until now, KARI has produced 12 satellites and probes, enhancing South Korea's satellite development and operation capabilities.
Among the many contributions to the aerospace industry, the "Danuri" spacecraft is one of Korea's most notable and significant technological accomplishments. The Danuri, or Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), was designed to orbit the moon and collect scientific observations and data. Developed by KARI and launched on August 5, 2022, Danuri was South Korea's first lunar probe to orbit the moon. Danuri entered the moon's orbit on December 28th, 2022, making South Korea the world's seventh nation to study the moon with a probe. Danuri's main goals were to enhance Korea’s independent development of space satellite technology, international cooperation, and the education for future generations about space-related activities. Its scientific goals included capturing a high-resolution image of the lunar surface in order to select a future lunar landing site, exploring lunar geology and resources, studying the environment of the lunar surface and surrounding areas, obtaining a map of the lunar magnetic field, studying radioactivity intensity, and studying the density of high-energy particles, etc.
Danuri is one of South Korea's most significant space probes, as it demonstrates scientific advances made throughout Korea's aerospace development history. The Danuri has six main instruments mounted: the LUTI, PolCam, KMAG, KGRS, DTNPL, and SHC. Out of the six instruments, five were developed by Korean institutes, while NASA developed the SHC. Each of the equipment contributes significantly to Moon exploration while also demonstrating South Korea's technological advancements. The LUTI (Lunar Terrain Imager) is a 5m high-resolution camera that captures images of potential landing sites for the Korean lunar expedition in the future. The PolCam (Wide-angle Polarimetric Camera) collects polarized photographs of the lunar surface to study the effects of lunar surface particles and cosmic rays. The KMAG (KPLO Magnetometer) monitors magnetic force from the lunar surface to an altitude of 100 kilometers. The KGRS (KPLO Gamma-Ray Spectrometer) examines the composition and distribution pattern of the components that form the lunar surface. The DTNPL (Delay Tolerant Network Payload) evaluates the space internet by testing delay-tolerant networks (DTNs). Finally, the SHC (ShadowCam) examines for indications of water on the Moon.
The Danuri was also able to make significant scientific discoveries thanks to the development of advanced instrumentation mounted on it. For example, Danuri captured the Tycho Crater with its high-resolution camera, created a map of the entire Moon using observation data from a wide-field polarization camera, created a draft uranium element map using observation data from a gamma-ray spectrometer, and displayed results from an electrical conductivity analysis inside the moon. Additional achievements included sending and receiving text messages during a communication relay test.
Danuri is planned to orbit the Moon until December of 2025. Until then, it will continue to expand the capturing of the lunar surface, collect extra data on the Moon's magnetic field and gamma-ray, and deliver more detailed views of the moon. The success of Danuri's lunar exploration mission demonstrated that South Korea has progressed from having one of the world's weakest economies and technologies where researchers had to receive space exploration data from other developed countries, to a nation that is capable of executing self-sufficient space exploration and internationally recognized observation data.
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