• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.199-215
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• 2023

The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), the first South Korea lunar exploration probe, successfully arrived at the Moon on December, 2022 (UTC), following a 4.5-month ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) trajectory. Since the launch (4 August, 2022), the KPLO magnetometer (KMAG) has carried out various observations during the trans-lunar cruise phase and a 100 km altitude lunar polar orbit. KMAG consists of three fluxgate magnetometers capable of measuring magnetic fields within a ± 1,000 nT range with a resolution of 0.2 nT. The sampling rate is 10 Hz. During the originally planned lifetime of one year, KMAG has been operating successfully while performing observations of lunar crustal magnetic fields, magnetic fields induced in the lunar interior, and various solar wind events. The calibration and offset processes were performed during the TLC phase. In addition, reliabilities of the KMAG lunar magnetic field observations have been verified by comparing them with the surface vector mapping (SVM) data. If the KPLO's mission orbit during the extended mission phase is close enough to the lunar surface, KMAG will contribute to updating the lunar surface magnetic field map and will provide insights into the lunar interior structure and lunar space environment.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.40.1-40.1
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• 2020

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute is participating as a South Korean partner in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)of NASA. In response, the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute is currently conducting basic research for the development of four candidate instrument payloads. The magnetic field instrument is one of them and it's scientific mission objective is the moon's surface magnetic field investigation. Therefore, the development requirement of the lunar surface magnetic field instrument were derived and the initial conceptual design was started. The magnetic field instrument has a 1.2 meter boom which has two three-axis fluxgate magnetometer sensors and one gyro sensor to get a attitude information of the boom. The concept of measuring the lunar surface magnetic field will carry out using multiple sensors by placing semiconductor type magnetic field sensors inside the electric box including boom mounted fluxgate sensors. In order to overcome the very short development period, we will use the KPLO (Korean Lunar Pathfinder Orbiter) magnetometer design and parts to improve reliabilities for this instrument. In this presentation, we introduce the instrument requirements and conceptual design for the Lunar surface magnetic field instruments.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.48.4-48.4
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• 2018

대한민국 달탐사 시험용 궤도선은 2020년 말에 발사를 예정으로 위성개발이 진행되고 있다. KPLO(Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter) 라고 명명된 달 궤도선에는 6개의 탑재체가 있으며, 경희대학교 우주탐사학과에서는 달 주위 공간 및 달 표면의 이상 자기장 영역을 관측하는 탑재체 (KMAG: Kplo MAGnetometer)를 개발하고 있다. 자기장센서는 3축 플럭스게이트 센서를 사용하며 약 0.2nT 이하의 분해능을 가지고 있다. 측정주기는 10Hz이며 총 무게는 3.5kg 이다. 1.2m 길이의 붐(Boom) 구조물 내부에 3개의 자기장 센서들을 설치하였으며 가능한 위성체로부터 거리를 두고 자기장을 측정하는 구조로 구성하였다. 시험모델 개발을 완료하고, 개발된 탑제체의 환경시험결과와 성능시험결과 요구조건에 부합되는 결과를 얻었다. KAMG는 국내최초의 심우주 탐사용 자기장 측정기로서 향 후, 행성 및 소행성 탐사 등에 활용하기 위한 기반 기술로 활용할 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.