Lunar probe 'Danuri' Mission extended by 2 years

The Earth and the Moon as photographed by Danuri. [Photo = Korea Aerospace Research Institute]



Our country's lunar probe Danuri will extend its mission by two years and operate until 2027.



The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) (Director Yoon Young-bin) held a 'Moon Exploration Related Business Promotion Committee' at the Daejeon Astronomy and Space Science Institute on the 10th and decided on an agenda to extend the mission period of our country's first lunar probe Danuri by two years and conduct exploration missions until 2027.



Danuri was launched in August 2022 and successfully completed its originally planned one-year lunar orbital mission. Its mission was extended once until December 2025.





In this meeting, the space agency decided to further extend the mission period after collecting opinions from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Danuri's payload operating agency, and participating scientists, and analyzing the remaining fuel amount and condition of the probe.



In order to maximize scientific achievements during the extended mission period, Danuri's mission altitude will be lowered to 60 km and operated for seven months. It is scheduled to enter a lunar frozen orbit that allows long-term orbit operation without separate orbit adjustment and operate until the end of 2027.



After that, it will be lowered to an altitude similar to a lunar landing, and the technology necessary for a lunar landing will be tested, and then it will crash into the moon in March 2028.



It is expected that more detailed scientific results will be obtained by operating in a low lunar orbit at an altitude of 60 km, as observations close to the lunar surface will be possible. Through the subsequent frozen orbit operation, it is planned to obtain long-term scientific data and observe changes over time within the permanently shadowed region of the lunar polar region.



Yoon Young-bin, head of the Korea Space Agency, said, "We will maximize the performance of each mission payload through additional mission extension of Danuri and change of operation orbit," and "We plan to operate Danuri to help the U.S. Artemis plan and our country's lunar lander plan, which aims to launch in 2032."





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