• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.6-16
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• 2010

After the first successful Apollo program, many countries around the world launched their own programs for exploring the moon. This paper surveys various navigation and attitude control systems of several past lunar exploration programs for the purpose of preparing a program for the first Korean lunar probe. For this first we investigate successful programs by introducing the sensors and actuators used for these programs, particularly focusing on those of Clementine and SMART-1 of USA and EU, respectively. Then based on the study, we suggest the necessary components of navigation and attitude control systems suitable for our lunar probe program.

• 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.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 2015

Analysis of lunar samples returned by the US Apollo missions revealed that the lunar highlands consist of anorthosite, plagioclase, pyroxene, and olivine; also, the lunar maria are composed of materials such as basalt and ilmenite. More recently, the remote sensing approach has enabled reduction of the time required to investigate the entire lunar surface, compared to the approach of returning samples. Moreover, remote sensing has also made it possible to determine the existence of specific minerals and to examine wide areas. In this paper, an investigation was performed on the reflectance distribution and its trend. The results were applied to the example of the double ray stretched in parallel lines from the Tycho crater to the third-quadrant of Mare Nubium. Basic research and background information for the investigation of lunar surface characteristics is also presented. For this research, resources aboard the SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (SELENE), a Japanese lunar probe, were used. These included the Multiband Imager (MI) in the Lunar Imager/Spectrometer (LISM). The data of these instruments were edited through the toolkit, an image editing and analysis tool, Exelis Visual Information Solution (ENVI).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.1028-1036
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• 2018

KARI plans to launch Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) to the Moon by December 2020 for the first step of the Korea Lunar Exploration Project. This orbiter will be launched to obtain lunar exploration technologies and science data in advance before launching a main orbiter and a lunar probe. This paper describes the verification of thermal design for the orbiter. It is exposed to more extreme thermal environment than that of low Earth orbit satellite due to the heavy infrared emission of the Moon. Accordingly, a thermal design considering this environment is needed to maintain the temperature of payloads and components equipped in the orbiter within operating temperature range in all orbits. We performed the thermal analysis for Earth-Moon transfer orbit, lunar mission orbit and lunar eclipse required for thermal design verification of the lunar orbiter. As a result, this thermal design met the design requirements.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.49-63
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• 2021

The exploration of the solar system is carried out through various payloads, and accordingly, many research results are emerging. We tried to apply deep-learning as a method of studying the bodies of solar system. Unlike Earth observation satellite data, the data of solar system differ greatly from celestial bodies to probes and to payloads of each probe. Therefore, it may be difficult to apply it to various data with the deep-learning model, but we expect that it will be able to reduce human errors or compensate for missing parts. We have implemented a model that detects craters on the lunar surface. A model was created using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) image and the provided shapefile as input values, and applied to the lunar surface image. Although the result was not satisfactory, it will be applied to the image of the permanently shadow regions of the Moon, which is finally acquired by ShadowCam through image pre-processing and model modification. In addition, by attempting to apply it to Ceres and Mercury, which have similar the lunar surface, it is intended to suggest that deep-learning is another method for the study of the solar system.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-25
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• 2023

In this paper, I briefly introduce recently terminated, current, and future scientific spacecraft missions for in situ and remote-sensing observations of Earth's and other planetary magnetospheres as of February 2023. The spacecraft introduced here are Geotail, Cluster, Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms / Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun (THEMIS / ARTEMIS), Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS), Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace (ERG), Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector (CuPID), and EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft (EQUULEUS) for recently terminated or currently operated missions for Earth's magnetosphere; Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), Gateway, Solar wind Magneto-sphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), HelioSwarm, Solar-Terrestrial Observer for the Response of the Magnetosphere (STORM), Geostationary Transfer Orbit Satellite (GTOSat), GEOspace X-ray imager (GEO-X), Plasma Observatory, Magnetospheric Constellation (MagCon), self-Adaptive Magnetic reconnection Explorer (AME), and COnstellation of Radiation BElt Survey (CORBES) approved for launch or proposed for future missions for Earth's magnetosphere; BepiColombo for Mercury and Juno for Jupiter for current missions for planetary magnetospheres; Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and Europa Clipper for Jupiter, Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) for Uranus, and Neptune Odyssey for Neptune approved for launch or proposed for future missions for planetary magnetospheres. I discuss the recent trend and future direction of spacecraft missions as well as remaining challenges in magnetospheric research. I hope this paper will be a handy guide to the current status and trend of magnetospheric missions.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.26-43
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• 2023

As Korean first lunar probe, Danuri, succeeded in entering lunar orbit, Korean new space exploration plans such as Mars exploration can be expected. Korean space exploration payload is developed only in a limited field, so there is a need to create a new space exploration payload. In foreign countries, there is a mass spectrometer as a basic equipment for space exploration, and it is a very useful payload that encompasses the exploration of life through the analysis of organic matter as well as the observation of the atmosphere and volatile substances of the exploration target. However, Korea has never developed a mass spectrometer payload for space exploration, so it is necessary to secure technology in preparation for future space exploration. Before that, we look at the scientific achievements of foreign mass spectrometer payloads for space exploration and identify trends.