South Korea's Lunar Orbiter Captures Unreal Views of Our Home Planet - Gizmodo

From its presumption successful debased lunar orbit, South Korea’s archetypal Moon ngo caught a unsocial glimpse of Earth rising from down the cratered aboveground of our earthy satellite.

The Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), besides known arsenic Danuri, beamed backmost beauteous black-and-white images of Earth captured by its high-resolution camera. The 2 images were taken connected December 24 and 28 and released by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute connected Monday.

The images amusement a solemn Earth successful the distance, portion the Moon’s dusty aboveground appears successful the foreground. From our position connected Earth, we often spot the Moon rising supra our planet’s surface. But the images taken by Danuri from lunar orbit supply a counterintuitive presumption of our location satellite glimmering down the Moon’s surface.

Danuri captured the archetypal representation erstwhile it was 77 miles (124 kilometers) supra the lunar aboveground and the 2nd erstwhile it was astir 213 miles (344 kilometers) supra its surface.

Danuri launched connected August 5 connected committee SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, marking South Korea’s archetypal heavy abstraction mission. On December 17, the spacecraft completed its archetypal lunar orbit insertion maneuver and entered into lunar orbit.

The 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) probe is equipped with 4 subject instruments built locally, arsenic good arsenic a NASA camera to seizure views of the lunar surface. From its debased orbit, Danuri volition research the Moon’s shadowed regions, which could clasp h2o ice.

By launching Danuri, South Korea hopes to beforehand its lunar exploration, arsenic the orbiter is designed to scope retired imaginable landing spots for aboriginal missions to the Moon. South Korea besides wants to motorboat a lander and a rover, successful summation to different orbiter, for the 2nd signifier of the mission.

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