South Korea has joined the race for the moon with the launch of its first lunar orbiter by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Danuri – which means “enjoy the moon” – was carried on a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida by Elon Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company on Thursday. It plans to enter lunar orbit in December. “This is a very important milestone in the history of Korean space exploration,” Lee Sang-ryool, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said in a video shown before the launch. During the one-year mission, Danuri will use six different instruments to conduct research, including probing the lunar surface to identify potential landing sites for future missions. One of the instruments will evaluate disturbance-tolerant, network-based space communications, which South Korea’s science ministry says is a world first. Danuri, which took seven years to build, will also try to develop a wireless Internet environment to connect satellites or exploratory spacecraft, the ministry added. The lunar orbiter will broadcast the song Dynamite by K-pop sensation BTS to test the network. The launch comes as South Korea accelerates its space program, aiming to send a probe to the Moon by 2030 and join nine countries working on the Artemis project with the goal of a lunar landing mission by 2024. “If this mission succeeds, South Korea will become the seventh country in the world to launch an unmanned aircraft to the moon,” an official at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute told AFP. “This is a huge moment for South Korea’s space development program, and we hope to continue to contribute to the world’s understanding of the Moon with what Danuri is about to discover.” Space launches have long been a sensitive issue on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea faces international sanctions over its nuclear ballistic missile program. In June, South Korea launched its first domestically developed space rocket – the Nuri. China, Japan and India all have advanced space programs, while the North is among the countries capable of launching satellites. In March, North Korea asked to expand its missile launch site to advance its space ambitions after South Korea and the United States accused it of testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile under the guise of a spacecraft launch. South Korea says its space program is for peaceful and scientific purposes and any military use of the technology, such as in spy satellites, is for its defense.
