• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.375-395
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• 2021

Korea plans to send a pathfinder lunar orbiter to the Moon for the first time in August 2022. And according to the 3rd Basic Plan for Space Development Promotion, the plan is to send a lunar lander to the Moon before 2030. The selection of the lunar landing area can be varied depending on the lunar lander's mission, therefore preliminary research on the lunar landing sites is essential for a successful lunar exploration mission design. This paper analyzed the characteristics of major regions among 14 proposed regions using NASA's MoonTrek based on the data on the candidate areas for the major moon landing proposed sites by the NASA workshop in 2018. And we looked into what kind of future moon landing missions are suitable for these areas. We also looked at the importance of lunar Antarctica area through the recent lunar landing areas of Moon landing countries and Artemis plan.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.108-116
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• 2009

This paper considers the trajectory design problem for a lunar orbiter when launched by KSLV-II. KSLV-II puts its kick motor stage and lunar orbiter into a low earth orbit, and then the kick motor stage performed the translunar injection. To simulate more realistic situations, TLI (Trans-Lunar Injection) and LOI (Lunar Orbit Injection) maneuvers are modeled as finite burns. The feasibility of the lunar mission by KSLV-II are confirmed by the numerical results that show the reasonable required-velocity and propellant usage.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.1951-1957
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• 2010

Study of Lunar exploration is progressed and manned lunar exploration is planned. In order to explore in Lunar, we need habitat to stay for a long time and system that mine, classify and transport materials. Lunar has dust that is very light-tiny. That is on the air for a long time so there are problems to adject transportation system such as vehicle. However, it can solve the problem to use pipe transportation system. This transportation system help materials move continually and is more effective than other transportation system such as train or vehicle. For those positive points, some experts studied about tube transportation systems. I introduce these system and find out factors that can be used in Lunar regolith transportation system. I suggest Lunar regolith transportation system, using the factors.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.57.4-58
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• 2018

It is interesting to find the best exospheric model that can account for the observed characteristics of the lunar coma and tail simultaneously. Recently, the initial abundances of atomic species near surface are found to be different depending on certain local areas. We will present the influence of different initial conditions of localized sources on the characteristics of the lunar exosphere, and also present time-dependent simulations showing the distributions of atomic species around the lunar coma and the final stage of the lunar tail. Based on our updated 3-D lunar model, we will present resulted physical parameters of the lunar sodium coma and tail.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.327-333
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• 2019

For sustainable lunar exploration, the most required resources should be procured on site because it takes tremendous cost to transfer the resources from the Earth to the Moon. The technologies required for use of lunar resources refers to In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). As the ISRU technology cannot be verified in the Earth, a lunar surface environment simulator is necessary to be prepared in advance. The Moon has no atmosphere, and the average temperature of the lunar surface reaches to $107^{\circ}C$ during the daytime and $-153^{\circ}C$ at night. The lunar surface is also covered with very fine soils with sharp particles that are electrostatically charged by solar radiation and solar wind. In this research, generation of vacuum environment with lunar soil mass in a chamber and simulation of electrostatically charged soils are taken into consideration. It was successful to make a vacuum environment of a chamber including lunar soils without soil disturbance by controlling evacuation rate of a vacuum chamber. And an experiment procedure for simulating the charged lunar soil was suggested by theoretical consideration in charging phenomena on lunar dust.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.131-143
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• 2022

The lunar exploration autonomous vehicle operates based on the lunar topography information obtained from real-time image characterization. For highly accurate topography characterization, a large number of training images with various background conditions are required. Since the real lunar topography images are difficult to obtain, it should be helpful to be able to generate mimic lunar image data artificially on the basis of the planetary analogs site images and real lunar images available. In this study, we aim to artificially create lunar topography images by using the location information-based style transfer algorithm known as Wavelet Correct Transform (WCT2). We conducted comparative experiments using lunar analog site images and real lunar topography images taken during China's and America's lunar-exploring projects (i.e., Chang'e and Apollo) to assess the efficacy of our suggested approach. The results show that the proposed techniques can create realistic images, which preserve the topography information of the analog site image while still showing the same condition as an image taken on lunar surface. The proposed algorithm also outperforms a conventional algorithm, Deep Photo Style Transfer (DPST) in terms of temporal and visual aspects. For future work, we intend to use the generated styled image data in combination with real image data for training lunar topography objects to be applied for topographic detection and segmentation. It is expected that this approach can significantly improve the performance of detection and segmentation models on real lunar topography images.

• 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.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2014

In this work, the preliminary analysis on both the tracking schedule and measurements characteristics for the spacecraft on the phase of lunar transfer and capture is performed. To analyze both the tracking schedule and measurements characteristics, lunar transfer and capture phases' optimized trajectories are directly adapted from former research, and eleven ground tracking facilities (three Deep Space Network sties, seven Near Earth Network sites, one Daejeon site) are assumed to support the mission. Under these conceptual mission scenarios, detailed tracking schedules and expected measurement characteristics during critical maneuvers (Trans Lunar Injection, Lunar Orbit Insertion and Apoapsis Adjustment Maneuver), especially for the Deajeon station, are successfully analyzed. The orders of predicted measurements' variances during lunar capture phase according to critical maneuvers are found to be within the order of mm/s for the range and micro-deg/s for the angular measurements rates which are in good agreement with the recommended values of typical measurement modeling accuracies for Deep Space Networks. Although preliminary navigation accuracy guidelines are provided through this work, it is expected to give more practical insights into preparing the Korea's future lunar mission, especially for developing flight dynamics subsystem.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2015

This paper deals with dynamic modeling and controller design of a future Korean lunar module planned to be launched 2020's in Korea. For dynamic modeling of the lunar module, we first assume the lunar module as a rigid body. And we derive equations of motion for the lunar module by considering allocation of main thrusters and reaction thrusters. With the equation of motion, we design the controller based on the quaternion. A Pulse Width Pulse Frequency modulator(PWPFM) is selected for generating on/off signal. Finally, we construct a 2-phase descent mode including initial guidance mode, terminal guidance mode. The MATLAB simulation is performed for evaluating the descent ability and final landing velocity. The dynamic modeling and descent simulation of the lunar module in this paper could be applied for developing the future work of the Korean lunar exploration program.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.247-264
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• 2014

In this paper, a brief but essential development strategy for the lunar orbit determination system is discussed to prepare for the future Korea's lunar missions. Prior to the discussion of this preliminary development strategy, technical models of foreign agencies for the lunar orbit determination system, tracking networks to measure the orbit, and collaborative efforts to verify system performance are reviewed in detail with a short summary of their lunar mission history. Covered foreign agencies are European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Indian Space Research Organization and China National Space Administration. Based on the lessons from their experiences, the preliminary development strategy for Korea's future lunar orbit determination system is discussed with regard to the core technical issues of dynamic modeling, numerical integration, measurement modeling, estimation method, measurement system as well as appropriate data formatting for the interoperability among foreign agencies. Although only the preliminary development strategy has been discussed through this work, the proposed strategy will aid the Korean astronautical society while on the development phase of the future Korea's own lunar orbit determination system. Also, it is expected that further detailed system requirements or technical development strategies could be designed or established based on the current discussions.