KARI Prepares to Conduct Science Operations from Moon Orbit with KPLO, Considering Lunar Outpost
Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter is headed to 100-km polar orbit around Moon, powered by four 30-N Orbit Maneuver Thrusters on ~ 19-week journey; 6 science instruments include Gamma Ray Spectrometer to monitor y-ray emissions during trip / from lunar orbit within 10 keV to 10 MeV range; NASA ShadowCam based on LRO LROC with 800x sensitivity to map PSRs; Ministry of Science official Kwon Hyun-joon tells NYT Moon has “potential to act as a base for further deep space exploration”; 2nd stage of Korean Lunar Exploration Program to feature lunar orbiter / lander / rover launched from S Korea NLT 2030