South Korea to launch its maiden Moon mission aboard SpaceX rocket on August 5

South Korea will officially enter race to Moon with launch of its Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) on August 5. orbiter will launch from NASA's Cape Canaveral Force Station aboard a X Falcon 9 rocket which is targeted for liftoff at 4:38 am IST (7:08 p.m. EDT on August 4).

In latest st of mission preparation, craft was fuelled with hydrazine at X’s payload processing facility. This fuel will be used by orbiter to carry out maeuvres into a low-altitude lunar orbit for im-taking and scientific observations.

(KPLO in South Korea before being shipped to Florida; Im: KARI)

About pathfinder mission

As name suggests,  678-kilogram craft would mark entry of South Korea into race of lunar exploration. “ basic idea of this mission is techlogical development and demonstration,” Eunhyeuk Kim from Korea Aero Research Institute (KARI) said as per a report by flight w. “Also, using science instruments, we are hoping to get some useful data on lunar surface.”

Informally named Danuri, meaning “enjoy moon", mission involves six instruments and techlogy demonstration payloads that will be tested in lunar orbit. Built at a cost of $180 million, orbiter will be propelled toward first Lagrange point (L1), a location four times farr than Moon before it is pulled back and installed into lunar orbit on December 16.

After its entry into orbit, missions teams would begin commissioning and operations of targeted year-long mission would begin in early February. From lunar orbit, orbiter would peer inside dark craters near Moon's poles using  ShadowCam. NASA is also a contributor to KPLO mission as it will provide support through its Deep Network (DSN), an array of three massive radio telescopes used to communicate with a probe in .

Deep Network's antennas are located in US' California, Spain's Madrid and Australia's Canberra which allows scientists to communicate with craft irrespective of its position with Earth. 

As for KPLO mission, it has been in works since 2016. Originally scheduled for launch in 2020, mission was delayed by two years as craft surpassed its launch weight.

Im: X