• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.19-33
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• 2022

Planarity geotechnical exploration missions were actively performed during the 1970s and there was a period of decline from the 1 990s to the 2000s because of budget. However, exploring space resources is essential to prepare for the depletion of Earth's resources in the future and explore resources abundant in space but scarce on Earth, such as rare earth and helium-3. Additionally, the development of space technology has become the driving force of future industry development. The competition among developed countries for exoplanet exploration has recently accelerated for the exploration and utilization of space resources. For these missions and resource exploration/mining, geotechnical exploration is required. There have been several missions to explore exoplanet ground, including the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. There are Apollo, LUNA, and Chang'E missions for exploration of the Moon. The Mars missions included Viking, Spirit/Opportunity, Phoenix, and Perseverance missions, and the asteroid missions included the Hayabusa missions. In this study, space planetary mineral resource exploration technologies are explained, and the future technological tasks of Korea are described.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.199-212
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• 2023

In contrast to the short-term nature of lunar missions in the past, lunar missions in new space era aim to extend the presence on the lunar surface and to use this capability for the Mars exploration. In order to realize extended human presence on the Moon, production and use of consumables and fuels required for the habitation and transportation using in-situ resources is an important prerequisite. The Global Exploration Roadmap presented by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which reflects the space exploration plans of participating countries, shows the phases of progress from lunar surface exploration to Mars exploration and relates in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) capabilities to each phase. Based on the ISRU Gap Assessment Report from the ISECG, ISRU technology is categorized into in-situ propellant and consumable production, in-situ construction, in-space manufacturing, and related areas such as storage and utilization of products, power systems required for resource utilization. Among the lunar resources, leading countries have prioritized the utilization of ice water existing in the permanent shadow region near the lunar poles and the extraction of oxygen from the regolith, and are preparing to investigate the distribution of resources and ice water near the lunar south pole through unmanned landing missions. Resource utilization technologies such as producing hydrogen and oxygen from water by hydroelectrolysis and extracting oxygen from the lunar regolith are being developed and tested in relevant lunar surface analogue environments. It is also observed that each government emphasizes the use and development of the private sector capabilities for sustainable lunar surface exploration by purchasing lunar landing services and providing opportunities to participate in resource exploration and material extraction.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.419-477
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• 2017

In Space contains valuable natural resources. These provide a compelling reason for entrepreneurs, investors, and governments to pursue space exploration and settlement. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet. Article II of the Outer Space Treaty states that "outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means." The U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 (CSLCA), however, makes significant advances in furthering U.S. commercial space industry, which explicitly allows U.S. citizens to engage in the commercial exploration and exploitation of 'space resources' including water and minerals. Thus, some scholars argue that the United States recognizing ownership of space resources is an act of sovereignty, and that the act violates the Outer Space Treaty. This paper suggests that it is necessary to guarantee the right to resources harvested in outer space. More specifically, a private ownership of extracted space resources needs to promote new space business and industry. As resources on Earth become increasingly difficult and expensive to mine, it is clear that our laws and policies must encourage private appropriation of space resources. CSLCA which addresses all aspects of space resource extraction will be one way to encourage space commercial activity.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Recently, the development of underground space has been accelerated with rapid urbanization, and it is significantly important for safe construction to accurately understand the geological conditions of the section when excavating rocks. In this paper, a boring alignment tracking and geological exploration system have been developed to identify the geological conditions beyond the excavation face by utilizing a MSP method that bores a large empty hole to reduce blast-induced vibration. The major advantage of the proposed exploration system is that we can obtain the ground condition of 50 m ahead of the excavation face through exploration along blast cut-holes drilled for the NATM tunnel construction. In addition, we introduce several case histories regarding the assessment of the geological conditions beyond the tunnel face by monitoring the inside of large empty holes using the proposed hole exploration system.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.924-927
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• 2002

In this paper we proposed the design space exploration environment of re-configurable hybrid systems and evaluate the performance by changing design parameters. With this, we analyzed the effect of various scheduling methods which determine how we allocate hardware/software resources to application program. A simple static (fixed) mapping strategy produces almost the same performance compared with a sophisticated dynamic mapping strategy especially when a CPU is already busy with its pre-assigned own tasks.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.154-164
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• 2023

In space exploration, spectroscopic observation is useful for understanding objects' composition and physical properties. There are various methods for analyzing spectral data, and there are differences depending on the object and the wavelength. This paper introduces a method for analyzing visible & nearinfrared (VNIR) spectral data, which is mainly applied in lunar exploration. The main analysis methods include false color ratio image processing, reflectance pattern analysis, integrated band depth (IBD) processing, and continuum removal as preprocessing before analysis. These spectroscopic analysis methods help to understand the mineral properties of the lunar surface in the VNIR region and can be applied to other celestial bodies such as Mars.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.213-228
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• 2023

Unmanned exploration rovers serve as tools for investigating mineral resources, mining, and carrying out various scientific on celestial bodies beyond Earth, acting on behalf of humans. Recently, not only the United States but also other countries such as Japan, India and China have been attempting to develop unmanned planetary exploration rovers for space development or have successfully operated them on other celestial bodies. This has accelerated the enthusiasm for space exploration and development. However, the development and operation of unmanned rovers for planetary exploration still entail significant costs and high risks, making it difficult for universities or companies to undertake such project independently without the guidance of financial backing from government entities. In this paper, we describe the recent development trends of micro-rovers, known as Cube Rovers, which inherit the concepts and definitions of traditional Cube Sat. We also introduce the potential and expectations of Cube Rovers through the necessity of their development and ongoing planetary exploration cases.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.451-457
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• 2011

A short laser pulse irradiates a sample to create the highly energetic plasma that emits light of a specific wavelength peak according to the material. By identifying different peaks for the analyzed samples, its chemical composition can be rapidly determined. The LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) has great advantages as an elemental analyzer on board a space rover, namely real-time rapid analysis and stand-off detection. The LIBS signal intensity is remarkably increased by using double-pulse LIBS system for component analysis of lunar environments where the surrounding pressure is low. Also the angle of target is adjusted for replicating arbitrary shapes of the specimen.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.57.2-57.2
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• 2021

An asteroid is important for understanding the condition of our solar system in early-stage because an asteroid, considered as a building block of the solar system, preserves the information when our solar system was formed. It has been continuously flowing into the near-Earth space, and then some asteroids have a probability of impacting Earth. Some asteroids have valuable minerals and volatiles for future resources in space activity. Korean government clarified, in the 3rd promotion plan for space activity, an asteroid sample return mission by the mid-2030s. However, it is almost impossible to do so based on only a single experience of an exploration mission to the Moon, Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, which will be launched in mid-2022. We propose a Rendezvous Mission to Apophis(RMA), beneficial in terms of science, impact hazardous, resource, and technical readiness for the space exploration of Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.346-353
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• 2012

The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) has great advantages as an analytical technique, namely real-time analysis without sample preparation, ideal for mobile chemical sensor for space exploration. The LIBS plasma characteristics are strongly dependent on the surrounding pressure. In this study, seven types of target (C, Ti, Ni, Cu, Sn, Al, Zn) were investigated for their elemental lifetime. The target was located in vacuum chamber which has the pressure range of 760 to $10^{-5}$ torr. As the pressure is decreased, the elemental lifetimes of carbon and titanium declined, while all other targets showed increased lifetimes until reaching 1 torr and declined with continued pressure decrease. The boiling point and electronegativity amongst the physicochemical properties of the samples are used to explain this peculiarity.