South Korea is launching its first lunar mission, and SpaceX has been brought in to help. You can watch this historic launch live here. Hard to believe, but the upcoming launch marks the first time SpaceX will send a payload directly into a lunar transfer orbit. And as for South Korea, it marks its first mission to the Moon, adding itself (fingers crossed) to a very short list of nations that will. The payload du jour is the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri, on a mission managed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 7:08 p.m. ET. Live coverage will begin 15 minutes before launch, which you can watch on SpaceX or in the stream provided below. KPLO mission To be fair, SpaceX has sent an object to the Moon before, namely Israel’s Beresheet Moon lander (which crashed on the lunar surface in 2019), but that was as part of a routine Falcon 9 mission into a geosynchronous transfer orbit around from the earth. . Once in space, Beresheet used its own power to gradually increase its altitude, eventually entering its lunar orbit (and the mission’s failure had nothing to do with SpaceX). Additionally, the privately held company has previously sent objects deep into the solar system, including a red Tesla Roadster, but never before has it sent anything directly to our beloved Moon. That is about to change today. SpaceX reports an 80% chance of favorable weather. If the launch needs to be cleared, the company will try again tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. ET. After stage separation, the first stage will attempt a landing on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, currently in the Atlantic Ocean. This particular booster has already made several successful landings. Once in space and about 34 minutes into the mission, the second stage will restart, with the engine shutting down when the mission clock reaches 35:15. Danuri will deploy and begin its journey to the Moon five minutes later. G/O Media may receive a commission 40% discount. Looks good In addition to the 65″ size this TV offers UHD 4K graphics that are a constant feast for the eyes, has HDR to make sure you can appreciate the full range of colors and contrasts and also allows you to use it as a hub for all your streaming services. Diagram showing the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO). Image: KAVI The 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) probe will enter a lunar polar orbit in mid-December, where it will operate 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the surface for at least a year. If the mission is extended, KPLO will fall into orbit 43 miles (70 km) above the Moon. A post from Teslarati explains why it will take so long for Danuri to reach its target orbit: Instead of launching the satellite as a payload into Earth orbit, KPLO…will be the only spacecraft on the Falcon 9, and the SpaceX rocket will send the orbiter directly into a type of interlunar injection (TLI) orbit known as a ballistic lunar transfer . A BLT is much slower than some alternative TLI orbits, but it trades speed for excellent efficiency, making launch easier for the Falcon 9 and ultimately giving the orbiter more usable time around the Moon by requiring less propellant to get into orbit. The mission’s primary goals are to “develop indigenous lunar exploration technologies, demonstrate a ‘space internet’, and conduct scientific surveys of the lunar environment, topography, and resources, as well as identify potential landing sites for future missions,” NASA . The space agency provided a high-sensitivity camera for the mission, with South Korea developing its four other instruments: a lunar soil imager, a wide-angle polarimetric camera (named PolCam), a magnetometer, and a gamma-ray spectrometer. Combined, these five devices weigh no more than 88 pounds (40 kg). A team of NASA-funded scientists will be involved in analyzing the incoming mission data. Using PolCam, scientists at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, will study lunar pyroclastic deposits—ash deposits formed long ago in the wake of violent volcanic eruptions. “Such ash deposits may come from deep inside the Moon and may contain volatile materials, including water,” according to an emailed statement from SSI. “Thus they have the potential to provide insight into the nature of the lunar interior and represent a potential resource for future human use of lunar resources.” We wish South Korea the best of luck in this important mission as yet another nation looks to establish a presence around the Moon. More: These failed missions to the Moon remind us that space is hard.
