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Robotic Spacecraft (Astronomy, Planetary, Earth, Solar/Heliophysics) => Space Science Coverage => Topic started by: plutogno on 11/14/2013 04:30 pm

Title: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: plutogno on 11/14/2013 04:30 pm
a short article and an animation on this subject. Launch apparently planned for the early-2020s
http://www.nature.com/news/south-korea-reveals-moon-lander-plans-1.14159
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 11/15/2013 05:23 am
Cool! The lander looks similar to the cancelled European Lunar Lander project, but with a small rover. With China attempting to land next month and India and Russia developing Lunar landing missions, this could be the renaissance of Lunar surface exploration, with hopefully crewed Lunar missions to follow.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: KelvinZero on 11/15/2013 06:13 am
I guess these missions are skirting the poles because of the lack of direct line of sight for communication, and the limitations of solar power?

It would be nice if either of these problems could be solved once by one group and shared, eg a long lasting solution for communication and perhaps some general purpose nuclear batteries. Are those scary tech to distribute or no more so than your average X-ray machine?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Star One on 11/15/2013 06:28 am
Sounds good. Seems we have a moon race on our hands. Pretty ambitious timeframe to get it done in just six/seven years.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: plutogno on 11/15/2013 07:09 am
Actually, they have been developing the mission for quite some time now (at least 5 years).
And of course, not unexpectedly North Korea has also announced a lunar mission. Hopefully South Korea will prefer to develop the mission taking all the time it needs, without getting involved in a senseless "race"
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Prober on 11/15/2013 02:21 pm
Actually, they have been developing the mission for quite some time now (at least 5 years).
And of course, not unexpectedly North Korea has also announced a lunar mission. Hopefully South Korea will prefer to develop the mission taking all the time it needs, without getting involved in a senseless "race"

SK needs to first test out the launcher then build from there.   But they are getting the funding so that might help move the project forward.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Star One on 11/16/2013 10:15 am

Actually, they have been developing the mission for quite some time now (at least 5 years).
And of course, not unexpectedly North Korea has also announced a lunar mission. Hopefully South Korea will prefer to develop the mission taking all the time it needs, without getting involved in a senseless "race"

SK needs to first test out the launcher then build from there.   But they are getting the funding so that might help move the project forward.

Are there any payloads definitely down for launch with this launcher?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Danderman on 11/16/2013 04:23 pm
Here is the money quote from the article:

"KARI has spent 10 billion Korean won (US$ 9.3 million) on lunar research since 2010
"

Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Fuji on 11/27/2013 01:30 am
Korean new rocket family images.
http://japanese.joins.com/article/758/178758.html  (Japanese article)

They may change the Octaweb engine arrangement   ;D
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Lars_J on 11/27/2013 04:45 am
Wow... :D imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: yoichi on 11/27/2013 01:32 pm
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2981096
Gov’t boosts its goals for space

Korea plans to launch an exploratory lunar probe aboard its own launch vehicle by June 2020 and later embark on missions to Mars and asteroids by 2040, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced yesterday.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Danderman on 11/27/2013 02:46 pm
If those payload numbers are correct, the new engine that S Korea is developing is significantly smaller than even the first generation Merlin.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: M129K on 11/27/2013 02:59 pm
Wow... :D imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess.
Let's just call it inspiration  ;D
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Prober on 11/27/2013 07:10 pm
If those payload numbers are correct, the new engine that S Korea is developing are significantly smaller than even the first generation Merlin.

Homegrown design = to the naro engine
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Danderman on 11/27/2013 07:14 pm
If those payload numbers are correct, the new engine that S Korea is developing are significantly smaller than even the first generation Merlin.

Homegrown design = to the naro engine

The Naro 1 engine was/is significantly larger than the Merlin engine.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Prober on 11/27/2013 11:11 pm
If those payload numbers are correct, the new engine that S Korea is developing are significantly smaller than even the first generation Merlin.

Homegrown design = to the naro engine

The Naro 1 engine was/is significantly larger than the Merlin engine.
Korea's space program enters next phase KSLV-2
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?code=Ne5&nseq=146155 (http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?code=Ne5&nseq=146155)
 
"We did obtain invaluable knowledge from them, and worked our way up to emulating their technologies. In fact, we've also developed an engine identical to the ones used in Naro on our own as we prepare to develop the next engine for the KSLV-2."
Kinda confusing only from what I've seen SK is very serious about space and plans to catch up to the rest of the world.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Danderman on 11/27/2013 11:24 pm

"We did obtain invaluable knowledge from them, and worked our way up to emulating their technologies. In fact, we've also developed an engine identical to the ones used in Naro on our own as we prepare to develop the next engine for the KSLV-2."


The "Naro engine" was/is the RD-151, which has a thrust of 170 tons. The Merlin engine is about half that.

So, a 27 engine rocket with an engine "identical" to the RD-151 is going to be a monster, ie Saturn V class. Yet, the diagrams state that this 27 engine monster can only orbit  15- 20 tons, not the 75 tons+ that would be expected from all that liftoff thrust.

I was thinking that maybe the upper stages are small, but the same chart gives very respective GTO masses, given the LEO masses, so the upper stages are OK, its the first stages that are underpowered.

So, some of the information sources here are wrong.

Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Fuji on 11/27/2013 11:25 pm
If those payload numbers are correct, the new engine that S Korea is developing are significantly smaller than even the first generation Merlin.

Homegrown design = to the naro engine

The Naro 1 engine was/is significantly larger than the Merlin engine.


Naro 1 engine thrust is a 170 ton (metric ton).
New S Korea engine thrust is a 75 ton (about 735kN). 4 engine cluster =300 ton per that article.
Merlin 1C engine thrust is a 350-400kN.
My understand is right?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Danderman on 11/27/2013 11:28 pm

New S Korea engine thrust is a 75 ton (about 735kN). 4 engine cluster =300 ton per that article.


What is the source of that 75 ton thrust figure?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: hop on 11/28/2013 12:57 am
What is the source of that 75 ton thrust figure?
It appears in the arirang report linked above by Prober (note that story is from April, so it pre-dates the current moon rumor)
Quote
The KSLV-2 will use four, 75-ton engines whereas the Naro had just one engine that weighed 30-tons.
Regardless of whether they really meant mass or thrust for the 30 tons, I don't see how you get 30 tons out of any of the Naro 1 specs...

I thought for a second they might have been talking about scaling up the second stage engine, but in that case 30 tons would be far too high.

Given the above and the vagaries of translation "identical" could also mean a lot of different things other than an exact copy: Same propellants, same combustion cycle, equal ISP...

edit:
The 75 ton figure appears here http://www.kslv.or.kr/kslv2/kslv_biz.asp?mn=1

google translate will get you .... something ;)
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Prober on 11/28/2013 04:25 am
What is the source of that 75 ton thrust figure?
It appears in the arirang report linked above by Prober (note that story is from April, so it pre-dates the current moon rumor)
Quote
The KSLV-2 will use four, 75-ton engines whereas the Naro had just one engine that weighed 30-tons.
Regardless of whether they really meant mass or thrust for the 30 tons, I don't see how you get 30 tons out of any of the Naro 1 specs...

I thought for a second they might have been talking about scaling up the second stage engine, but in that case 30 tons would be far too high.

Given the above and the vagaries of translation "identical" could also mean a lot of different things other than an exact copy: Same propellants, same combustion cycle, equal ISP...

edit:
The 75 ton figure appears here http://www.kslv.or.kr/kslv2/kslv_biz.asp?mn=1 (http://www.kslv.or.kr/kslv2/kslv_biz.asp?mn=1)

google translate will get you .... something ;)
yes, I believe your on to something to clarify.    Only new problem is that the translation also says 2 of the stages each @ 75 ton figure.   
 
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Danderman on 11/29/2013 02:49 pm
Korean Government Aiming to Launch Its Own Space Vehicles by 2020

http://www.astrowatch.net/2013/11/korean-government-aiming-to-launch-its.html

 Korea plans to develop a space vehicle on its own and launch it during the first half of 2020, and send up a lunar orbiter and a lunar lander for itself before the end of the same year. In the longer term, it is planning to explore Mars, asteroids, and deep space to join the ranks of space industry powerhouses. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning held the sixth National Space Committee meeting on November 26 and finalized its three major plans for space development – the Long-term Plan for Space Development, the Space Technology Industrialization Strategy, and the Modified KSLV Development Plan.

At the meeting, the government decided to hasten the development of the Korean Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV) by 15 months to complete it by June 2020. The purpose of the development of the KSLV, which stared in March 2010, is to put a 1.5 ton application satellite into low earth orbit at an altitude of 600 to 800 km. According to the new plan, the government is going to launch a test vehicle in December 2017, one year ahead of schedule, and then launch completed three-stage vehicles in December 2019 and June 2020. The government will also send up the lunar orbiter and lunar lander on the vehicles before the end of 2020, if the KSLV development turns out to be successful. All of the processes are to fulfill President Park Geun-hye’s promise to explore the moon on or before 2020.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: yoichi on 12/28/2013 02:30 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xyLTlhO7TU
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Blackstar on 02/17/2015 09:20 pm
Some news:

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2015/02/17/2015021701757.html

Korea Unveils Moon Rover


The Korea Institute of Science and Technology on Monday unveiled an unmanned rover that can search for rare minerals and metals on the moon's surface.

The rover will be sent to the moon on a Korean-made rocket in 2020 to conduct a mission similar to NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.

The rover is 50 cm wide, 70 cm long and 25 cm high, and weighs 20 kg, much lighter than China's 120 kg Jade Rabbit rover sent to the moon in 2013.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: yoichi on 02/19/2015 08:25 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOhNTSGsEw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0ZXURsL8Co
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: plutogno on 04/20/2016 05:35 am
Gov't Introduces Equipment of Nation's 1st Lunar Orbiter

http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Sc_detail.htm?lang=e&id=Sc&No=118433&current_page=
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: savuporo on 04/20/2016 07:05 am
Gov't Introduces Equipment of Nation's 1st Lunar Orbiter

http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Sc_detail.htm?lang=e&id=Sc&No=118433&current_page=
Something got lost in translation

Quote
The orbiter will carry three pieces of equipment, including a wide-field polaroid camera, a device that measures the moon’s magnetic field and a gamma-ray spectrometer.
They are sending a Polaroid camera ? :)
I think we had bit more detail (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38220.msg1510615#msg1510615) in the other thread.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: savuporo on 05/13/2016 03:21 am
http://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/south-korea-selects-payload-for-moon-probe/

Quote


South Korea’s first lunar space probe will launch in 2018 carrying a suite of instruments including a pantoscopic polarizing camera, a gammaray spectrometer, and a device to measure the Moon’s magnetic field. The spacecraft will circle in a polar orbit 100km above the Moon for more than a year, researching geographical features of the moon and its surrounding environment, and exploring the lunar surface for potential resources.

No Polaroids
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Kryten on 08/29/2016 06:46 pm
 NASA has published an announcement of opportunity for instruments on the 2018 orbiter.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a50e070404067b481e371726dab25130&tab=core&tabmode=list&=
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Dalhousie on 08/30/2016 07:43 am
Gov't Introduces Equipment of Nation's 1st Lunar Orbiter

http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Sc_detail.htm?lang=e&id=Sc&No=118433&current_page=
Something got lost in translation

Quote
The orbiter will carry three pieces of equipment, including a wide-field polaroid camera, a device that measures the moon’s magnetic field and a gamma-ray spectrometer.
They are sending a Polaroid camera ? :)
I think we had bit more detail (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38220.msg1510615#msg1510615) in the other thread.

a polarising camera =/= polaroid camera
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Galactic Penguin SST on 08/30/2016 11:12 am
NASA has published an announcement of opportunity for instruments on the 2018 orbiter.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a50e070404067b481e371726dab25130&tab=core&tabmode=list&=

This thing is really flying in 2018? I don't see any significant hardware being built or a ride being booked yet. And how on Earth can it still receive new instruments and test it AND integrate it in less than 2 years time?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: plutogno on 09/14/2016 05:22 pm
NASA Seeks Science Instruments to Sponsor on Korean Space Agency Lunar Orbiter

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/kplo-ao
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: savuporo on 09/15/2017 12:23 am
And these instruments are now of course selected and slated to fly

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/04/28/u-s-instrument-team-to-fly-camera-on-south-korean-moon-mission/

Quote
A camera developed by scientists at Arizona State University will join four foreign-built instruments on South Korea’s first lunar orbiter set for launch at the end of 2018, NASA announced Friday.

NASA selected the ShadowCam instrument from proposals submitted by U.S. science teams. Developed by Arizona State University and Malin Space Science Systems, ShadowCam will map terrain and search for evidence of frost or ice deposits inside eternally dark craters near the moon’s poles, scientists said.

ShadowCam will launch with four South Korean-made instruments on the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, which is set for liftoff in December 2018.

The instrument is a rebuild of the narrow-angle camera on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, but with one major change.

“The telescope and much of the electronics will be identical,” said Mark Robinson, ShadowCam’s principal investigator at Arizona State University. “The big difference is swapping out the current image sensor for one that is 800 times more sensitive, allowing high resolution imaging within permanently shadowed regions, something the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera cannot accomplish.”
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: savuporo on 09/17/2017 06:18 pm
And

http://www.spacetechasia.com/kari-awards-us5-7-million-contract-to-mda-for-lunar-mission-communications-subsystems/
Quote
South Korea’s space agency, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), has awarded a contract worth over US$5.7 million (CA$7 million) to Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA).

Under the contract, MDA will provide KARI with the communications subsystems needed for the Korean Lunar Exploration Program, which aims to develop and launch a lunar orbiter by late 2018. MDA’s subsystems will provide relay information between KARI’s proposed lunar orbiter and the ground station on earth.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Kryten on 10/03/2017 11:18 am
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press-release/thales-alenia-space-provide-x-band-transmitter-south-koreas-kplo-lunar
Quote
Madrid,  October 2nd, 2017 – Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, KARI, to deliver the communications equipment for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter mission (KPLO), a lunar probe scheduled for launch on December 2020. These equipment will be in charge of transmitting back to Earth the data collected by the instruments on-board the orbiter.
Two years delay; this should make it possible for it to launch on KSLV-2.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Lucid Nonsense on 10/21/2017 03:28 pm
Excuse me but is it possible to run by a few things concerning the KSLV-2 by the more knowledgeable members of this forum?

Firstly, the origin of the '75ton' figure. Could it simply be 735kN of thrust divided by 9.8N? If so, why???

Secondly, other than SpaceX and the Merlin Engine architecture, what are the benefits of choosing to develop a RP-1/LOX GG cycle engine as a first 'big-boy' engine attempt over other fuels and cycles. (Staged-combustion and cryogenics are obviously too ambitious, but were there any alternatives?)

While the engine seems inspired by Merlin, (assuming my 735kN leap of logic holds true) the LV design seems very Ariane 1~4 like. What would a comparison in performance look like?

Ariane 4 used SRBs. Considering South Korea would be politically hard-pressed to manufacture a Solid Rocket Motor large enough to potentially be threatening Balistic Missile, what would a KSLV-2 with 2 or 4 single engine liquid booster stages (using 1st or 2nd stage diameter tooling) look like performance wise?

Finally, what would a KSLV-3 with a 7 or 9 engine (I'll come clean and admit I'm thinking of odd numbers due to RTLS/Reusability) 1st stage look like? Would it have a single engine 2nd stage or more? What about the 3rd? What would the overall LV design be?

{Also, extraneous extra, there are unofficial plans to reduce the weight and increase the thrust (about 880kN or more) of the 1st stage engine and develop a replacement ORSC 3rd stage engine (80~100kN) for better ISP, how feasible would these proposals be and what kinds of performance improvements would there be in terms of payload mass and such.}
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Kryten on 10/21/2017 03:53 pm
Ariane 4 used SRBs. Considering South Korea would be politically hard-pressed to manufacture a Solid Rocket Motor large enough to potentially be threatening Balistic Missile, what would a KSLV-2 with 2 or 4 single engine liquid booster stages (using 1st or 2nd stage diameter tooling) look like performance wise?
The warhead weight limitation for SK missiles was recently dropped; there's still a formal range limit, they can de facto produce missiles, and thus motors, of any size now.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Lucid Nonsense on 10/22/2017 04:07 pm
Ariane 4 used SRBs. Considering South Korea would be politically hard-pressed to manufacture a Solid Rocket Motor large enough to potentially be threatening Balistic Missile, what would a KSLV-2 with 2 or 4 single engine liquid booster stages (using 1st or 2nd stage diameter tooling) look like performance wise?
The warhead weight limitation for SK missiles was recently dropped; there's still a formal range limit, they can de facto produce missiles, and thus motors, of any size now.

While the easing of warhead weight restrictions have still not officially occurred, even if the de jure limitation disappears, there would still be de facto political pressure from other countries. In any case Korea aims to use liquid boosters.

On the 75ton thrust mystery front, it may very well be the case that 75tons refers to 75tonf (75x1000kgf). Why Korean engineers are not using SI units still remain an unsolved mystery.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: sanman on 10/22/2017 08:09 pm
Korean new rocket family images.
http://japanese.joins.com/article/758/178758.html  (Japanese article)

They may change the Octaweb engine arrangement   ;D

It looks like they're going from Falcon-1 to Falcon-4 to Falcon-9 to FalconHeavy.
Is there any reusability planned somewhere along the way? Or not at all?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Patchouli on 10/25/2017 01:08 am
Depends can the engine be made to air start otherwise I'd expect something similar to ULA's recovery though getting it back to land would be better.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: jebbo on 12/07/2017 04:09 pm
Quote
South Korea's first lunar mission, Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), planned for 2020 https://t.co/uk0yqOqoG0 https://t.co/g6iYfdZJHg

https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/938815705201369088 (https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/938815705201369088)

--- Tony

Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: yoichi on 12/20/2017 06:18 am
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2017/12/325_241178.html

Musk's SpaceX rocket to launch Korea's lunar experimental orbiter
Wed, December 20, 2017

The state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has selected SpaceX's Falcon 9 transporter rocket to launch its experimental lunar satellite by 2020, the researcher said Tuesday.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: K210 on 12/21/2017 06:36 am
Interesting that south korea would choose to use a foreign launch vehicle over their own KSLV-2 vehicle. I wonder why? 
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Lar on 12/21/2017 01:52 pm
Interesting that south korea would choose to use a foreign launch vehicle over their own KSLV-2 vehicle. I wonder why? 

cost or schedule or risk level?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: hopalong on 12/21/2017 02:14 pm
Interesting that south korea would choose to use a foreign launch vehicle over their own KSLV-2 vehicle. I wonder why? 

cost or schedule or risk level?

KSLV-2 is not scheduled to fly until 2021, also it is quoted as 1500Kg to a 600-800 KM orbit, I believe that the lunar probe is @550Kg, so might be a tad heavy for a TLI using an KSLV-2. The Wiki entry does say that it is planned to use it for the Lunar mission, but the time scale and capability seems wrong.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: GClark on 12/21/2017 02:57 pm
There maybe some confusion here.  KARI is planning two Lunar missions, KPLO and an Orbiter/Lander combo.

The 2020 mission is the KPLO - this appears to be the mission being launched on a Falcon 9.

The mission to be launched on a KSLV is the orbiter and lander combo.

IMNSHO this thread has got the two missions intertwined somewhat.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Phil Stooke on 12/21/2017 05:36 pm
That is correct!  We have not heard very much about the lander yet, though some very early work on site selection procedures is being mentioned here and there.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Pipcard on 02/23/2018 08:52 am
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2981096
Gov’t boosts its goals for space

Korea plans to launch an exploratory lunar probe aboard its own launch vehicle by June 2020 and later embark on missions to Mars and asteroids by 2040, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced yesterday.

This video shows KARI's vision for 2040: they envision the construction of space hotels using the three-core KSLV-IV (along with a sci-fi SSTO and the usual futuristic idea of flying cars). They also plan to launch rockets from an oceangoing platform like Sea Launch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_PERmFIaHo
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 02/24/2018 02:26 am
Some captures. KSLV-III and KSLV-IV have similar performance to Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Tywin on 01/16/2019 01:11 am
A good pdf about this mission:

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/leag2017/presentations/tuesday/ju.pdf

Only one more years, for the launch of this mission, and we don't have more news about her progress...
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: JulesVerneATV on 01/05/2022 04:48 pm
Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung pledges to complete moon landing project by 2030

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20211222003300315
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: spacexplorer on 01/27/2022 10:40 am
September 2021 update:
Thanks to NASA help: South Korea’s first lunar orbiter should finally start in 2022 (https://marketresearchtelecast.com/thanks-to-nasa-help-south-koreas-first-lunar-orbiter-should-finally-start-in-2022/144361/)

Quote
South Korea’s lunar orbiter is almost ready and should finally start in a year, thanks in part to the help of the US space agency NASA. The South Korean Ministry of Science announced this on Monday, reports the Korea Times, among others. After a precision camera from the USA had been connected to the device, the lunar probe should be ready in October. This will be followed by extensive tests before the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is then launched in August 2022 with a SpaceX rocket. The orbiter should then explore the moon for at least a year.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Vahe231991 on 02/06/2022 08:44 pm
[Danuri/KPLO] program thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=55019.0
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Mahurora on 06/08/2023 11:34 pm
This spacecraft is discussed elsewhere in this forum:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=55019.0

Would be great if one of the mods could merge the duplicate threads or lock the 2 smaller threads and leave a link to the main thread in robotic spacecraft section.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: catdlr on 06/08/2023 11:53 pm
This spacecraft is discussed elsewhere in this forum:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=55019.0

Would be great if one of the mods could merge the duplicate threads or lock the 2 smaller threads and leave a link to the main thread in the robotic spacecraft section.
There is a "Report to Moderator" link beside your post, press that, and copy and paste your suggestion.  SMods don't have time to read all the posts, so using the link is the bestand quickest method.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Mahurora on 06/09/2023 11:06 pm
This spacecraft is discussed elsewhere in this forum:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=55019.0

Would be great if one of the mods could merge the duplicate threads or lock the 2 smaller threads and leave a link to the main thread in the robotic spacecraft section.
There is a "Report to Moderator" link beside your post, press that, and copy and paste your suggestion.  SMods don't have time to read all the posts, so using the link is the bestand quickest method.

Right, seems like best course of action, did just that. Thanks for the advice.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: russianhalo117 on 06/09/2023 11:38 pm
This spacecraft is discussed elsewhere in this forum:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=55019.0

Would be great if one of the mods could merge the duplicate threads or lock the 2 smaller threads and leave a link to the main thread in the robotic spacecraft section.
There is a "Report to Moderator" link beside your post, press that, and copy and paste your suggestion.  SMods don't have time to read all the posts, so using the link is the bestand quickest method.

Right, seems like best course of action, did just that. Thanks for the advice.


As a moderator i have reviewed the reports to moderators. This thread  and the linked other thread were created under the intention that these are to be  two separate mission threads. The other thread is for the KPLO pathfinder demonstration mission NOT the follow on orbiter which will deliver the first South Korean Lunar Lander. This 2013 thread predates the creation and announcement of KPLO, THEREFORE the two threads will remain separate.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Mahurora on 06/09/2023 11:43 pm
As a moderator i have reviewed the reports to moderators. This thread  and the linked other thread were created under the intention that these are to be  two separate mission threads. The other thread is for the KPLO pathfinder demonstration mission NOT the follow on orbiter which will deliver the first South Korean Lunar Lander. This 2013 thread predates the creation and announcement of KPLO, THEREFORE the two threads will remain separate.

Okay, that makes sense. We'll be able to continue to use this thread for the lander mission in the 2030's. Though I think the two threads on the robotic spacecraft section (topic=55019.0 and topic=56885.40), which are both about KPLO, could be merged. What do you think?
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: russianhalo117 on 06/10/2023 02:06 am
As a moderator i have reviewed the reports to moderators. This thread  and the linked other thread were created under the intention that these are to be  two separate mission threads. The other thread is for the KPLO pathfinder demonstration mission NOT the follow on orbiter which will deliver the first South Korean Lunar Lander. This 2013 thread predates the creation and announcement of KPLO, THEREFORE the two threads will remain separate.

Okay, that makes sense. We'll be able to continue to use this thread for the lander mission in the 2030's. Though I think the two threads on the robotic spacecraft section (topic=55019.0 and topic=56885.40), which are both about KPLO, could be merged. What do you think?
Those likely could be merged if they are both general threads where they are not for separate specific discussions.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Mahurora on 03/09/2024 03:19 pm
Older Korean lunar orbiter and lander programme schedule and designs, from 2017. Back then, it was aimed to launch the orbiter and lander using KSLV-II. The programme has since then been revised. Under new plan, KPLO was supposed to be launched in 2019, which was delayed by 19 months and was launched in 2022. Lunar lander is now supposed to be launched in 2030s using a new launch vehicle. You could see that, due to the limited performance of KSLV-II, the older orbiter and lander designs were limited to 550kg.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Mahurora on 03/09/2024 03:32 pm
There were 2 design candidated for the lander vehicle. First design had a unitary propulsion system, where as the second design had a kick motor for lunar orbit maneuvering, seperate from landing engine. The kick motor for the second design was also sepearte from TLI kick motor stage.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Mahurora on 03/09/2024 03:37 pm
Complete picture of the payload including TLI kick motor. Sequence are as follows :

- Fairing sepeartion (second stage burn)
- SECO and separation, thrid stage ignition
- TECO, entering parking orbit
- spin table actuation, payload seperation
- TLI kick motor ignition
- TLI kick motor cutoff and TLI transition
- orbiter/lander seperation

TLI section as well as other structural components as well as the propellant was supposed to weigh 2010kg in total, of which 1710kg would be propellant mass.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: Mahurora on 03/09/2024 03:53 pm
Updates regarding the current lunar orbiter and lander programme, officially the "Lunar Exploration Programme 2nd Phase".

- passed preliminary feasibility study
- decade of development from 2024 to 2033. Budget around $400 million (@ 1316 KRW : 1USD exchange rate)
- budget only for lunar lander. Rover development programme is seperate and design will be finalized by 2025 upon further review
- lunar rover is a new addition to the payload and could weigh as much as 43kg. In the old plan, including a rover was impossible due to LV capability constraints
- It will be launched using KSLV-III under development. As such, the size and mass of the lander was greatly increased compared to the older design and plan (more than 3 folds, 1800kg)
- First KSLV-III launch would send "TLI Capability Verification Vehicle". This is planned to be December 2030. This payload will also act as the orbiter for the programme
- It will be followed by "Lunar Soft-Landing Demonstrator" and finally the lunar lander itself, to be launched in 2031 and 32 respectively

Below is the new lander design
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: redliox on 03/10/2024 03:50 am
The Korean lander reminds me of India's, but then again Pathfinder likewise had a rover attached to a pedal/panel.
Title: Re: South Korean lunar orbiter and lander
Post by: sdsds on 03/10/2024 04:29 am
Really nice octagonal design. From the diagram it appears to support as many as two rover-sized payloads. (Or is the second payload bay shallower and intended for fixed payloads?)