South Korea’s Danuri orbiter demonstrates ‘space internet’ en route to moon - SpaceNews

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s robotic lunar orbiter Danuri successfully demonstrated “space internet” connected its mode to the satellite by sending video and photograph files, including a fashionable Korean band’s music video, astatine a region of much than 1.2 cardinal kilometers to Earth, said Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the spacecraft’s operator, Nov. 7.

The objection was conducted doubly — Aug. 25 and Oct. 28 — utilizing a space net demonstrator developed by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) here, validating an interplanetary net transportation utilizing delay-disruption tolerant networking. The instrumentality was designed to trial the information transmission capableness successful a abstraction situation wherever disconnection of telecommunications often occurs. The tests were supervised by KARI, ETRI, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, according to KARI. While the archetypal objection was conducted with the orbiter located astir 1.21 cardinal kilometers distant from Earth, Danuri was 1.28 cardinal kilometers from Earth for the 2nd demo, according to KARI.

“The show verification trial is important successful that they were conducted astatine distances of astir 3 times the connection region of astir 380,000 kilometers, which was the ngo fixed to Danuri earlier launch,” the institute said successful a Nov. 7 statement. 

KARI besides unveiled photos of the Earth and the moon’s orbit taken by the orbiter. Using a built-in high-resolution camera developed by KARI, the orbiter took photos astatine a region of betwixt 1.46 cardinal kilometers and 1.548 cardinal kilometers for a period from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The spacecraft took 15 photos Sept. 24 from a region of 1.544 cardinal kilometers arsenic the satellite orbited Earth.

“These photos are meaningful successful that the Danuri captured the process of the satellite orbiting and passing the Earth,” KARI said successful the statement. 

Launched Aug. 4 connected a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the orbiter is traveling toward the satellite astatine a velocity of 0.54 kilometers per 2nd to scope the moon’s orbit by Dec. 17, according to KARI. A bid of propulsive maneuvers with the spacecraft’s thrusters volition steer it into a circular, low-altitude orbit astir 100 kilometers from the lunar aboveground by Dec. 31. After a little play of commissioning and tests, the spacecraft’s yearlong ngo is expected to statesman successful January.