• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.323-333
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• 2016

In this study, the uncertainty requirements for orbit, attitude, and burn performance were estimated and analyzed for the execution of the $1^{st}$ lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver of the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) mission. During the early design phase of the system, associate analysis is an essential design factor as the $1^{st}$ LOI maneuver is the largest burn that utilizes the onboard propulsion system; the success of the lunar capture is directly affected by the performance achieved. For the analysis, the spacecraft is assumed to have already approached the periselene with a hyperbolic arrival trajectory around the moon. In addition, diverse arrival conditions and mission constraints were considered, such as varying periselene approach velocity, altitude, and orbital period of the capture orbit after execution of the $1^{st}$ LOI maneuver. The current analysis assumed an impulsive LOI maneuver, and two-body equations of motion were adapted to simplify the problem for a preliminary analysis. Monte Carlo simulations were performed for the statistical analysis to analyze diverse uncertainties that might arise at the moment when the maneuver is executed. As a result, three major requirements were analyzed and estimated for the early design phase. First, the minimum requirements were estimated for the burn performance to be captured around the moon. Second, the requirements for orbit, attitude, and maneuver burn performances were simultaneously estimated and analyzed to maintain the $1^{st}$ elliptical orbit achieved around the moon within the specified orbital period. Finally, the dispersion requirements on the B-plane aiming at target points to meet the target insertion goal were analyzed and can be utilized as reference target guidelines for a mid-course correction (MCC) maneuver during the transfer. More detailed system requirements for the KPLO mission, particularly for the spacecraft bus itself and for the flight dynamics subsystem at the ground control center, are expected to be prepared and established based on the current results, including a contingency trajectory design plan.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2018

In this study, the performance of ranging techniques for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) space communication system is investigated. KPLO is the first lunar mission of Korea, and pseudo-noise (PN) ranging will be used to support the mission along with sequential ranging. We compared the performance of both ranging techniques using the criteria of accuracy, acquisition probability, and measurement time. First, we investigated the end-to-end accuracy error of a ranging technique incorporating all sources of errors such as from ground stations and the spacecraft communication system. This study demonstrates that increasing the clock frequency of the ranging system is not required when the dominant factor of accuracy error is independent of the thermal noise of the ranging technique being used in the system. Based on the understanding of ranging accuracy, the measurement time of PN and sequential ranging are further investigated and compared, while both techniques satisfied the accuracy and acquisition requirements. We demonstrated that PN ranging performed better than sequential ranging in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime where KPLO will be operating, and we found that the T2B (weighted-voting balanced Tausworthe, voting v = 2) code is the best choice among the PN codes available for the KPLO mission.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.131-148
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• 2023

Lunar permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) never see direct sunlight and are illuminated only by secondary illumination - light reflected from nearby topography. The ShadowCam imaging experiment onboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter is acquiring images of these PSRs. We characterize and discuss the nature of secondary illumination for the Shackleton PSR from ShadowCam radiance-calibrated images. We also use modeling to understand the magnitude and direction of the secondary illumination. Results from our analysis highlight the non-homogeneous, dynamic, and complex nature of PSR secondary lighting. Knowledge of the direction of the secondary illumination is crucial for reli-able interpretation of contrasts observed in ShadowCam images. This preliminary analysis of the floor of Shackleton crater from images acquired over multiple secondary illumination conditions does not reveal indications of exposed surface ice, even though temperatures are constantly below 110K.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.86-91
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• 2016

KARI(Korea Aerospace Research Institute) has been developing the KPLO(Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter) for Korean first lunar exploration, and analysing various subjects for the mission success. Especially the performance of the communication is one of important factors, because massive scientific and technical data acquired by multiple payloads might be transferred to ground stations on the Earth. In this paper, we explained the study on the 1-day average downlink capacity based on the visibility analysis between ground stations and KPLO, and described its results.

• 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.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.173-197
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• 2023

ShadowCam is a high-sensitivity, high-resolution imager provided by NASA for the Danuri (KPLO) lunar mission. ShadowCam calibration shows that it is well suited for its purpose, to image permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) that occur near the lunar poles. It is 205 times as sensitive as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC). The signal to noise ratio (SNR) is greater than 100 over a large part of the dynamic range, and the top of the dynamic range is high enough to accommodate most brighter PSR pixels. The optical performance is good enough to take full advantage of the 1.7 meter/pixel image scale, and calibrated images have uniform response. We describe some instrument artifacts that are amenable to future corrections, making it possible to improve performance further. Stray light control is very challenging for this mission. In many cases, ShadowCam can image shadowed areas with directly illuminated terrain in or near the field of view (FOV). We include thorough qualitative descriptions of circumstances under which lunar brightness levels far higher than the top of the dynamic range cause detector or stray light artifacts and the size and extent of the artifact signal under those circumstances.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2017

This paper presents an overview of deep space orbit determination software (DSODS), as well as validation and verification results on its event prediction capabilities. DSODS was developed in the MATLAB object-oriented programming environment to support the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) mission. DSODS has three major capabilities: celestial event prediction for spacecraft, orbit determination with deep space network (DSN) tracking data, and DSN tracking data simulation. To achieve its functionality requirements, DSODS consists of four modules: orbit propagation (OP), event prediction (EP), data simulation (DS), and orbit determination (OD) modules. This paper explains the highest-level data flows between modules in event prediction, orbit determination, and tracking data simulation processes. Furthermore, to address the event prediction capability of DSODS, this paper introduces OP and EP modules. The role of the OP module is to handle time and coordinate system conversions, to propagate spacecraft trajectories, and to handle the ephemerides of spacecraft and celestial bodies. Currently, the OP module utilizes the General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) as a third-party software component for high-fidelity deep space propagation, as well as time and coordinate system conversions. The role of the EP module is to predict celestial events, including eclipses, and ground station visibilities, and this paper presents the functionality requirements of the EP module. The validation and verification results show that, for most cases, event prediction errors were less than 10 millisec when compared with flight proven mission analysis tools such as GMAT and Systems Tool Kit (STK). Thus, we conclude that DSODS is capable of predicting events for the KPLO in real mission applications.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.373-384
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• 2023

Initiated as Korea's inaugural space exploration endeavor, the lunar exploration development project has resulted not only the Danuri lunar orbiter but also payloads designed to achieve mission objectives and the associated Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) Deep-space Ground System for the operation and control of the Danuri. Scientific data gathered by four scientific payloads, developed by domestic institutions and installed on board the Danuri, will be publicly available starting January 2024. To facilitate this, the first-ever Korean space exploration scientific data management and public release system, KARI Planetary Data System (KPDS), has been developed. This paper provides details on the configuration and functions of the established KPDS website.

• 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.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.87-97
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• 2022

Polarimetric measurements of the lunar surface from lunar orbit soon will be available via Wide-Field Polarimetric Camera (PolCam) onboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), which is planned to be launched in mid 2022. To provide calibration data for the PolCam, we are conducting speckle polarimetric measurements of the nearside of the Moon from the Earth's ground. It appears that speckle imaging of the Moon for scientific purposes has not been attempted before, and there is need for a procedure to create a "lucky image" from a number of observed speckle images. As a first step of obtaining calibration data for the PolCam from the ground, we search for the best sharpness measure for lunar surfaces. We then calculate the minimum number of speckle images and the number of images to be shift-and-added for higher resolution (sharpness) and signal-to-noise ratio.