For the first time in the country’s history, South Korea plans to send its own lunar probe into space. A “Falcon 9” rocket from Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX with the test lunar orbiter “Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter” (KPLO) on board is scheduled to launch Thursday from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in the US state of Florida.
The project, including the development of an unmanned space vehicle and the construction of a ground station, is the result of a collaboration between the Korean State Space Research Institute (KARI) and other institutes in South Korea and the American space agency NASA, the South Korean according to the Ministry of Science.
The KPLO is to orbit the moon and from there collect data from the moon’s surface. According to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, it is designed for six payloads.
South Korea has an ambitious space program. By June, according to its own statements, it had successfully launched civilian-use satellites into orbit with a home-built launch vehicle.
The country is also a signatory to NASA’s “Artemis” program, which aims to put humans back on the moon.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
