Danuri (KPLO)

Danuri is South Korea's first spacecraft to the Moon. Its official name is the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or KPLO, and it is run by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The name Danuri joins the Korean words for 'moon' (dal) and 'to enjoy' (nurida). It launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 5 August 2022, Korean time.

Danuri circles the Moon about 100 km up on a polar orbit, which means it passes over the north and south poles on every lap. That lets it photograph the whole Moon as the surface turns beneath it. It carries Korean cameras and science instruments, plus ShadowCam, a NASA camera sensitive enough to look into craters near the poles that never get sunlight. Scientists hope to find signs of ice there that future astronauts could use.

The long way to the Moon

Instead of flying straight to the Moon in a few days, Danuri took a looping, low-energy route called a ballistic lunar transfer. It swung far out into space first, then fell back and was caught by the Moon's gravity. The trip took about four and a half months, but it saved about a quarter of the fuel. Danuri began entering lunar orbit on 17 December 2022 (Korean time) and reached its 100 km working orbit later that month.

What it carries

Danuri has six instruments. A high-resolution camera (LUTI) photographs possible landing sites, a wide-angle polarising camera (PolCam) studies the surface in polarised light, a magnetometer (KMAG) measures magnetism, and a gamma-ray spectrometer (KGRS) detects what elements are on the surface. A space internet test (DTN) sends files using delay-tolerant networking. NASA's ShadowCam, about 200 times more sensitive to light than LRO's camera, sees inside dark craters using faint light bouncing off nearby crater walls and mountains.

On the 3D Moon

On the 3D Moon you can see Danuri passing over both poles on its low polar orbit, where it maps the Moon and peers into craters that never see sunlight.