• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.45.2-46
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• 2021

The Hayabusa 2 mission target asteroid (162173) Ryugu is a near-Earth, carbonaceous (C-type) asteroid. Before the arrival, this asteroid is expected to be covered with mm- to cm- sized grains through the thermal infrared observations [1]. These grains are widely understood to be formed by past impacts with other celestial bodies and fractures induced by thermal fatigue [2]. However, the close-up images by the MASCOT lander showed lumpy boulders but no abundant fine grains [3]. Morota et al. suggested that there would be submillimeter particles on the top of these boulders but not resolved by Hayabusa 2's onboard instruments [4]. Hence, we conducted polarimetry of Ryugu to investigate microscopic grain sizes on its surface. Polarimetry is a powerful tool to estimate physical properties such as albedo and grain size. Especially, it is known that the maximum polarization degree (Pmax) and the geometric albedo (pV) show an empirical relationship depending on surface grain sizes [5]. We observed Ryugu from UT 2020 November 30 to December 10 at large phase angles (ranging from 78.5 to 89.7 degrees) to derive Pmax. We modified TRIPOL (Triple Range Imager and POLarimeter, [6]) to attach to the 1.8-m telescope at the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO). With this instrument, we observed the asteroid and determined linear polarization degrees at the Rc-band filter. We obtained sufficient data sets from 7 nights at this observatory to determine the Pmax value, and collaborated with other observatories in Japan (i.e., Hokkaido University, Higashi-Hiroshima, and Nishi-Harima) to acquire linear polarization degrees of the asteroid from total 24 nights observations with large phase angle coverage (From 28 to 104 degrees). The observational results have been published in Kuroda et al. (2021) [7]. We thus found the dominance of submillimeter particles on the surface of Ryugu from the comparison with other meteorite samples from the campaign observation. In this presentation, we report our activity to modify the TRIPOL for the 1.8-m telescope and the polarimetric performance. We also examine the rotational variability of the polarization degree using the TRIPOL data.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.19-25
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• 2009

Molybdenite concentrate ($MoS_2$) is the major mineral for the molybdenum industry, of which the industrial processing is first converted to technical grade molybdenum trioxide ($MoO_3$) by its oxidative roasting and purification, used as a raw material for manufacturing several molybdenum compounds. In the present work, detailed experimental results for the oxidative roasting of low grade Mongolian molybdenite concentrate are presented. The experiments were carried out in the temperature range of 793 to 823 K under an oxygen partial pressure range of 0.08 atm to 0.21 atm by using a thermogravimetric analysis technique. The molybdenite concentrate was an average particle size of $67\;{\mu}m$. In the oxidative roasting of low grade Mongolian molybdenite concentrate, more than 95% of molybdenite was converted to molybdenum trioxide in 60 min. at 828 K. The lander equation was found to be useful in describing the rates of the oxidative roasting and the reaction order with respect to oxygen concentration in a gaseous mixture with nitrogen was 0.11 order.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.669-676
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• 2018

As the Moon's scientific, technological, and economic value has increased, major space agencies around the world are leading lunar exploration projects by establishing a road map to develop lunar resources and to construct a lunar base. In addition, as the lunar base construction requires huge amounts of resources from the Earth, lunar in-situ construction technology is being developed to produce construction materials from local lunar resources. On the other hand, the characteristics of lunar topography and resources vary spatially due to the crustal and volcanic activities inside the Moon as well as the solar wind and meteorites from outside the Moon. Therefore, in this paper, the geospatial analysis of lunar resource distribution was conducted to suggest regional consideration factors to apply the lunar in situ construction technologies. In addition, the lunar topographic condition to select construction sites was suggested to ensure the safe landing of a lunar lander and the easy maneuvering of a rover. The lunar topographic and resource information mainly from lunar orbiters were limited to the lunar surface with a low spatial resolution. Rover-based lunar exploration in the near future is expected to provide valuable information to develop lunar in situ construction technology and select candidate sites for lunar base construction.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.218-227
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• 2016

Korean government plans to launch a lunar orbiter and a lander to the Moon by 2020. Before launch these two proves, an experimental lunar orbiter will be launched by 2018 to obtain key space technologies for the lunar exploration. Several payloads equipped in experimental lunar orbiter will monitor the surface of the Moon and will gather science data. Lunar orbiter sends telemetry and receives tele-command from ground using S-band while science data is sent to ground stations using X-band when the visibility is available. Korean deep space network will be mainly used for S and X-band communication with lunar orbiter. Deep Space Network or Universal Space Network can also be used for the S-band during trans-lunar phase when korean deep space network is not available and will be used for the S-band in normal mission orbit as a backup. This paper analyzes a visibility condition based on the combination of various ground antennas and its mask angles according to mission scenario to predict the number of contacts per day and to build an operational scenario for the lunar orbiter.