South Korea joined the list of nations with ambitious plans in space on Thursday.
The first lunar vehicle, named Danuri, was launched on time. The rocket was launched from the space station in Florida. After about 40 minutes and a series of engine firings, the Korean spaceship separated from the rocket and headed for the moon.
NASA, India and China are currently exploring Earth's companion, and it will join them when it arrives on the moon. Danuri will study the moon's magnetic field and photograph the dark craters at the poles where the sun never shines.
The name of the mission has been changed to Danuri, which means "moon" in Korean. South Korea will be the first country in the world to go beyond low- Earth orbit.
There are three cameras and a magnetometer at the place. One of the cameras supplied by NASA is sensitive enough to pick up the few photons that bounce off the ground into the moon's craters. The craters are located at the moon's poles and are permanently cold.
The solar system's 4.5 billion-year-old history could be preserved by the ice. It is possible to extract and melt the ice to provide water and oxygen for astronauts and rocket propellants for travelers looking to launch from the moon to other destinations.
South Korea has begun to develop its own rockets. Naro-1 was the first design to reach the space station. South Korea's equivalent of NASA has shifted its efforts to Nuri, a larger, three stage rocket. The second Nuri flight put several satellites in the sky.
South Korea has a number of satellites. There is an extensive missile program.
In the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union sent many robotic vehicles to the moon. The Apollo program sent astronauts there. There was almost no interest in the moon for three decades.
Three landers have been sent by China in the last few years. Commercial companies have been enlisted by NASA to send things to the moon in the future.
India has sent two orbiters to the moon, but one of them crashed into the lunar surface in 2019.
Beresheet, a lander built by SpaceIL, crashed as it tried to land on the moon.
The journey to the moon is long and energy efficient. It first heads toward the sun, then loops back around to be captured by the moon in late December. It does not require a large engine firing to slow the spaceship when it gets to the moon.
The moon's surface will be adjusted to an altitude of 62 miles above the ground. One year is how long the main scientific mission is expected to last.
NASA plans to build a lunar outpost for future astronauts and a small NASA-financed craft is on its way to the moon. In November, it is going to arrive in the moon.
Artemis 1 is an uncrewed test of NASA's giant rocket and capsule that will take astronauts back to the moon in the coming years. The space agency wants to launch in August or September.
A couple of commercial companies, ispace of Japan and Intuitive Machines of Houston, are trying to launch small robotic landers to the moon.
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