The first South Korean spacecraft to enter lunar orbit

Seoul-sana

The South Korean Aerospace Institute announced today that the first lunar orbiter has successfully entered lunar orbit to carry out the planned mission, two days earlier than expected.

"The Danuri spacecraft has entered the orbit of the moon and is currently orbiting around it at an altitude of 100 km," the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted the institute as saying, noting that this was achieved after three rounds of insertion maneuvers in the lunar orbit since the first time that was conducted on the 17th of January. The first one is running.

Danuri was scheduled to achieve lunar orbit tomorrow after performing a total of five rounds of maneuvers, which is the process of adjusting a spacecraft to reduce its speed and adhere to the moon's gravity.

The spacecraft will measure the terrain, magnetic strength, gamma rays and other features of the lunar surface using six instruments on board during its year-long mission, which begins next month. The probe will also identify potential landing sites for future lunar missions.

South Korea's first space mission outside Earth's orbit, Danuri, was launched last August aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the US state of Florida, in South Korea's first lunar mission and has covered a cumulative distance of 5.94 million kilometers so far.

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