Better known for K-pop and horror flicks, South Korea has now taken a massive step in the Science and Space sectors. South Korea has become the seventh country to send an unmanned probe to the Moon.
Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, also known as Danuri, was launched from launch complex 40 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station near Cape Canaveral. Elon Musk’s SpaceX helped launch the spacecraft using a Falcon 9 rocket.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/dAQGvpcOCX
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 4, 2022
By the middle of December, Danuri is expected to reach the Moon. Danuri is reportedly a combination of the Korean terms for “Moon” and “enjoy.” If successful, the spacecraft would orbit the Moon with other new missions headed there, including Chandrayaan-2 from India and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) from NASA, reported Scottish-American website Mashable.
“Danuri is just the beginning”, according to Sang-Ryool Lee, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.
By 2030, South Korea plans to send a robotic probe to the moon in what will be its first landing. South Korea in June had successfully launched a bunch of satellites into orbit around Earth. This was done using a homegrown rocket and marked a huge milestone in the country’s endeavour to conquer the final frontier.
Scientists hope that the launch will pave the way for South Korean missions to land on the Moon. If the moon mission succeeds, the country will join a select group of nations such as United States, Russia, China, Japan, Israel, and India, to become the world’s seventh lunar explorer.
