Category Archives: Korea

Friday / 17 October 2025

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Head of KASA Outlines Korea Moon Goal Plan and 2026 Budget

Republic of Korea aims for robotic Moon landing by 2032; Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) head Yoon Young-bin names 7 strategies and ~US$800M for these in 2026: continue to launch indigenous Nuri rocket, develop satellites, secure space communication, cultivate talent to build advanced craft, foster industry startups, expand international cooperativeness especially with USA, build / use new Moon simulation site; Korea is 7th nation to have lunar orbiter (Danuri, 2022 – see high-definition Moon-surface photo above), only international partner on SPHEREx space telescope, signer of Artemis Accords

Image Credits: KASA, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, SpaceX, ChosunBiz News

Friday / 10 October 2025

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ispace Partners Internationally to Further Lunar Enterprise

ispace announces new business deals including JAXA ~US$6.5B Strategic Space Fund selects ispace to develop lunar-water-location orbiter in ~$42M project led by Institute of Science Tokyo, and ispace chooses 2 companies for lunar water projects: Takasago Thermal Engineering receives ~$19.5M of ispace shares to collaborate in finding lunar surface H2O, Kurita Water Industries invests ~$13M in ispace as they jointly develop lunar resources / infrastructure; payload service agreements in process: for Series 3 lander NET 2027 with Magna Petra for ~$22M to take NASA MSOLO, and Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (Korea) for 2 rovers; with Taiwan Space Agency for ~$8M to deliver NET 2028 magnetometer / UV telescope

Image Credits: ispace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 20-23 Oct 2023

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Asia Space Powers China, India, Japan and S Korea Lining Up to Conduct Human and Robotic Moon Landings

CNSA to launch Queqiao-2 communications relay to an elliptical lunar frozen orbit NET March 2024 in support of MSP & far side Chang’E missions and as precursor for Solar System-wide interplanetary constellation; Inaugural launch of 92-m tall Long March 10 rocket expected NET 2027 ahead of 2020s human landings; ISRO tasked with human Moon landings NLT 2040 as Chandrayaan-3 data being analyzed and LUPEX, a south pole lander / rover collaboration with JAXA, planned for NET 2025; JAXA SLIM on route to Moon carrying LEV-1/2 surface probes with Lunar Obit Injection slated for late Dec; KARI Danuri orbiter continuing 1-year nominal mission ending 16 Dec, striving for lunar lander / rover mission NLT 2030

Credits: JAXA, KARI, CNSA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 28-31 July 2023

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India Chandrayaan-3 Successful TLI Will Propel Craft to Join USA, PRC, S Korea in Cislunar Space; Soon Followed by Russia, Japan

Rounding out July ‘International Space / Moon Month’ is TransLunar Injection (18:30-19:30 UTC 31 July / 00:00-01:00 IST 1 August) planned for Chandrayaan-3, setting it on course for lunar orbit, lander / propulsion-module separation 17 Aug, lunar touchdown 23 Aug; Luna-25 and SLIM landers may be on track for NET 10 Aug and 26 Aug respectively, while commercial Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines hope for 2023 launches; Continually operating are: landers CE-3 & CE-4, rover Yutu-2, and orbiters LRO, ARTEMIS P1 & P2, CE-4 Queqiao, Chandrayaan-2, CE-5-T1 Service Module, CAPSTONE & Danuri

Credits: NASA, CNSA, KARI, ISRO, Advanced Space

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 20-23 Jan 2023

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2 Newly Arrived Moon Orbiters May Be Joined by at Least Half-Dozen Landers in Coming Months

As NASA / Advanced Space Capstone continues pathfinder mission of NRHO (so far finding Δv orbital maintenance requirements to be substantially less than expected) and KPLO Danuri prepares to begin science operations in Feb, ispace Hakuto-R lander should start return towards cislunar space after having reached furthest point in nearly 5-month fuel-efficient trajectory (1,400,000 km); Astrobotic PM-1 (with Project Kuiper and Celestis) and Intuitive Machines IM-1 (with DOGE-1) to follow NET Q1 2023, JAXA SLIM (with XRISM) NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June, Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July

Credits: JAXA, ISRO, Roscosmos

 

Friday / 6 Jan 2022

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Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri Sending Awesome Earthrise Images Home While Preparing for Science Operations

From a 100-km circular polar orbit around the Moon, Danuri has an excellent vantage of Earth rising over the lunarscape which KARI team is observing with Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI), 1 of 6 science payloads to be used for 1-year nominal science mission commencing February; KMAG (KPLO Magnetometer), Wide-Angle Polarimetric Camera (PolCam), KPLO Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (KGRS), Disruption Tolerant Network Experiment Payload (DTNPL) also developed by KARI; ShadowCam built by ASU for NASA, based on Narrow Angle Camera components of LROC on LRO with 200x sensitivity

Credits: KARI

New Year Holiday Edition
Fri-Mon / 23 Dec 2022 – 2 Jan 2023

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2023 Moon Roster Full of Independent and National Touchdowns Following 2022 Orbital Activity

At least 6 attempts to robotically land on the lunar surface are slated for 2023, after a year that saw Capstone DRHO insertion, Danuri near 100 x 100 km desired polar orbit (refining current 109 x 8920 km via 4 additional orbital maneuvers), Artemis 1 flyby / DRO; Hakuto launched on Dec 11 as Orion splashed down, now on 1-month cruise to next TCM targeting April landing; Landers Nova-C and Peregrine launching NET Q1, SLIM April, Chandrayaan-3 June, Luna-25 July, while Chang’E-3 lander / LUT, Chang’E-4 Yutu-2 rover continue only current operations on Moon

Credits: NASA, ispace, IM, Astrobotic, ISRO

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 2-5 Dec 2022

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Wave of Independent Moon Missions to Trail Artemis 1, Followed by National Efforts, Then Another Raft of Indies

As NASA / ESA Orion Moonship returns to Earth, Advanced Space-controlled, Tyvak-built, NASA-funded Capstone remains in NRHO and Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri on course to reach Moon orbit 16 Dec, planned commercial missions include ispace M1 awaiting SpaceX launch at KSC pending F9 review; Intuitive Machines IM-1 March 2023; Astrobotic PM1 Q1 2023; Followed by national missions from JAXA (SLIM, April 2023), ISRO (Chandrayaan-3, June 2023), Roscosmos (Luna-25, July 2023); Independents IM-2 (late 2023), SpaceX landing demo mission (2024), IM-3 (Q2 2024), Astrobotic GM1 (Nov 2024)

 Credits: NASA, ISRO, KARI, IM, SpaceX, Astrobotic,

Friday / 2 Sept 2022

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As Danuri Orbiter Approaches L1 Trajectory Correction, KARI Seeks Funding for 2031 Moon Lander

Nearing Lagrange Point 1, ~1.5 million km (0.01 AU) distant from Earth, Korea Aerospace Research Institute preparing to execute Trajectory Correction Maneuver 2 Sept (14:00 KST, 05:00 UTC) to propel 678-kg Danuri spacecraft away from Sun gravity towards Moon per fuel efficient ballistic lunar transfer protocol; Meanwhile KARI, led by (BR) Lee Sang-Ryool, reportedly requesting US$459M (₩618B) from South Korea government to support 1,800-kg Moon lander powered by solar & RTG, carrying 15-kg rover, to launch NET 2031 on next generation Nuri rocket

Credits: KARI, Korea Ministry of Culture

Friday / 5 Aug 2022

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Astronomy from the Moon Presented at 31st IAU General Assembly in Busan, S. Korea

International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) to speak on the resumption of astrophysical investigation from the surface of Moon during Division A (Fundamental Astronomy) talk at 14:40 KST, just hours after Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri set to launch at 8:08 KST; IM-1 carrying ILO-X to Moon NET Jan 2023 along with co-payload Radio Wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath (ROLSES); Future AFTM includes ILO-1 (NET 2024), LuSEE (2025), DAPPER, FARSIDE, Lunar Crater Radio Telescope

Credits: IAU, ILOA, NASA