Lunar orbiter Danuri captures dark side of the moon

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Business

Sat, September 23, 2023 | 07:06

Tech

Lunar orbiter Danuri captures dark side of the moon

Posted : 2023-04-12 16:35

Updated : 2023-04-13 07:54

Seen is Vallis Schrodinger, a long and narrow valley on the far side of the moon. The Danuri lunar orbiter took the photo of the valley on March 24. Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT

By Baek Byung-yeul

Danuri, Korea's first lunar orbiter, has succeeded in capturing photos of the dark side of the moon. The photos are part of scientific research to observe the moon from about 100 kilometers above its surface, according to the science ministry, Wednesday.

This is the first time that the Korean spacecraft photographed craters, valleys, basins and other traces of the moon's dark side, which is hard to observe from the Earth because it is tidally locked to our planet.

Using the Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI), developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Danuri captured high-resolution images of regions on the dark side or far side of the moon, such as the Tsiolkovskiy crater, the Vallis Schrodinger valley and the Szilard crater, the ministry said.

"Danuri photographed the Tsiolkovskiy crater area on March 22 and the Vallis Schrodinger area and the Szilard crater area on March 24. This is very meaningful in that the photos of the moon's far side are the first ones taken by Korea. The photos taken on March 24 are also of special significance because they were captured on the day the Danuri orbited the moon 1,000 times," the ministry said.

The ministry added that such high-resolution images are expected to serve as useful data to understand the composition of the moon's soil and the process of forming a collision sphere.

Seen is Tsiolkovskiy, a crater located on the far side of the moon, taken by the Danuri lunar orbiter. The science ministry said Wednesday that the lunar orbiter took this photo on March 22. Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT

Seen is Vallis Schrodinger, a long and narrow valley on the far side of the moon. The Danuri lunar orbiter took the photo of the valley on March 24, the day that the spacecraft orbited the moon 1,000 times. Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT

Szilard, a damaged lunar impact crater is seen in this photo, taken by the Danuri lunar orbiter on March 24. Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT

The photos clearly contain images of the towering peaks and recessed terrain in the collision zone and show that most of the impact zones were caused by meteorites.

The science ministry and KARI also released photos taken by the Polcam wide-angle polarimetric camera mounted on the Danuri to help determine the size and composition of topsoil particles with lunar polarization images. The ministry added it plans to unveil a polarimetric map of the moon for the first time in the world in January 2024.

The magnetometer and the gamma-ray spectrometer on Danuri are also obtaining observational data. The magnetic field variation data will be used to understand the structure of the moon and provide space environment data for future lunar exploration. The gamma-ray spectrometer data will be utilized for research on gamma rays, X-rays and neutron environments on the lunar surface.

"Danuri is smoothly sending back observational images and data from the moon," Cho Sun-hak, director general of the Space Policy and Nuclear Energy Bureau at the science ministry, said. "Based on the observations, we plan to unveil various scientific research results."

Carried by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, the lunar orbiter, also known as the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Aug. 5, 2022, and successfully entered the moon's orbit on Dec. 27.

The lunar orbiter will carry out scientific missions for a year from January. Its missions include finding a spacecraft moon landing site, measuring the magnetic field and gamma rays and testing space-based internet communication.

baekby@koreatimes.co.kr