• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.36-36
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• 2015

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.121-136
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• 2024

Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), launched in August 2022, is successfully carrying out its mission. Korea's lunar lander and rover programs are expected to proceed in the future. To successfully carry out the mission after the lunar lander has landed on the surface, the performance of the equipment to be mounted should be checked in a laboratory environment similar to the Moon. Scientists and engineers of several countries, including the United States and China, use lunar soil simulant which is developed to resemble lunar soil for simulating the surface of the lunar landing site. Several lunar probe landing sites are being discussed in Korea, and lunar soil simulants such as Korea Hanyang Lunar Simulant-1 (KOHLS-1), Korea Aerospace University Mechanical Lunar Simulants (KAUMLS), and Korea Lunar Simulant-1 (KLS-1), which are similar to the characteristics of lunar mare soil, have been developed. However, those simulants are not useful if the landing site is chosen as a highland area. In this study, we introduce the process of developing KIGAM-L1, a lunar highland soil simulant similar to the chemical composition of the Apollo 16 lunar soil sample and the particle size distribution of lunar soil sample 60500-1, in case the lunar lander lands at highland area.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.217-224
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• 2023

The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri, successfully entered its mission orbit on December 27, 2022 (UTC), and is currently performing its mission smoothly. To mitigate potential contingencies during the flight and to navigate the spacecraft into the desired lunar orbit, the KPLO flight dynamics (FD) team analyzed major trajectory-related contingencies that could lead to the violation of mission requirements and prepared operational procedures from the perspective of trajectory and FD. This paper presents the process of preparing contingency trajectory operations for the KPLO, including the identification of trajectory contingencies, prioritization results, and the development of recovery plans and operational procedures. The prepared plans were successfully applied to address minor contingencies encountered during actual operations. The results of this study will provide valuable insights to FD engineers preparing for space exploration mission operations.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.293-306
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• 2019

In this study, the observational arc-length effect on orbit determination (OD) for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) in the Earth-Moon Transfer phase was investigated. For the OD, we employed a sequential estimation using the extended Kalman filter and a fixed-point smoother. The mission periods, comprised between the perigee maneuvers (PM) and the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver in a 3.5 phasing loop of the KPLO, was the primary target. The total period was divided into three phases: launch-PM1, PM1-PM3, and PM3-LOI. The Doppler and range data obtained from three tracking stations [included in the deep space network (DSN) and Korea Deep Space Antenna (KDSA)] were utilized for the OD. Six arc-length cases (24 hrs, 48 hrs, 60 hrs, 3 days, 4 days, and 5 days) were considered for the arc-length effect investigation. In order to evaluate the OD accuracy, we analyzed the position uncertainties, the precision of orbit overlaps, and the position differences between true and estimated trajectories. The maximum performance of 3-day OD approach was observed in the case of stable flight dynamics operations and robust navigation capability. This study provides a guideline for the flight dynamics operations of the KPLO in the trans-lunar phase.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.449-458
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• 1998

The Korea Muliti-Purpose Satellite(KOMPSAT) uses a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude 685km as mission orbit and undergoes earth eclipses and infrequently lunar eclipses. Lunar eclipses occur when the moon is located between the sun and the satellite and blocks partially or fully the sunlight. The eclipse causes the satellite to increase battery discharge times and affects satellite lifetime and mission operation. The KOMPSAT lunar eclipses can cause additional effects to energy balance and battery disc of the KOMPSAT lunar eclipse for 3 year mission lifetime. Also mission planning scenario is presented for lunar eclipses at the KOMPSAT Grouns Station(KGS).

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.377-382
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• 2010

In lunar explorer development program, computer simulator is necessary to provide virtual environments that vehicle confronts in lunar transfer, orbit, and landing missions, and to analyze dynamic behavior of the spacecraft under these environments. Objective of simulation differs depending on its application in spacecraft development cycle. Scope of use cases considered in this paper includes simulation of software based, processor and/or hardware in the loop, and support of ground-based flight test of developed vehicle. These use cases represent early phase in development cycle but reusability of modeling results in the next design phase is considered in defining requirements. A simulator architecture in which simulator platform is located in the middle and modules for modeling, analyzing, and three dimensional visualizing are connected to that platform is suggested. Baseline concepts and requirements for simulator development are described. Result of trade study for selecting simulation platform and approaches of defining other simulator components are summarized. Finally, characters of lunar elevation map data which is necessary for lunar terrain generation is described.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.247-256
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• 2015

In this work, an efficient method with which to evaluate the high-degree-and-order gravitational harmonics of the non-sphericity of a central body is described and applied to state predictions of a lunar orbiter. Unlike the work of Song et al. (2010), which used a conventional computation method to process gravitational harmonic coefficients, the current work adapted a well-known recursion formula that directly uses fully normalized associated Legendre functions to compute the acceleration due to the non-sphericity of the moon. With the formulated algorithms, the states of a lunar orbiting satellite are predicted and its performance is validated in comparisons with solutions obtained from STK/Astrogator. The predicted differences in the orbital states between STK/Astrogator and the current work all remain at a position of less than 1 m with velocity accuracy levels of less than 1 mm/s, even with different orbital inclinations. The effectiveness of the current algorithm, in terms of both the computation time and the degree of accuracy degradation, is also shown in comparisons with results obtained from earlier work. It is expected that the proposed algorithm can be used as a foundation for the development of an operational flight dynamics subsystem for future lunar exploration missions by Korea. It can also be used to analyze missions which require very close operations to the moon.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.257-268
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• 2015

Characteristics of delta-V requirements for deploying an impactor from a mother-ship at different orbital altitudes are analyzed in order to prepare for a future lunar CubeSat impactor mission. A mother-ship is assumed to be orbiting the moon with a circular orbit at a 90 deg inclination and having 50, 100, 150, 200 km altitudes. Critical design parameters that are directly related to the success of the impactor mission are also analyzed including deploy directions, CubeSat flight time, impact velocity, and associated impact angles. Based on derived delta-V requirements, required thruster burn time and fuel mass are analyzed by adapting four different miniaturized commercial onboard thrusters currently developed for CubeSat applications. As a result, CubeSat impact trajectories as well as thruster burn characteristics deployed at different orbital altitudes are found to satisfy the mission objectives. It is concluded that thrust burn time should considered as the more critical design parameter than the required fuel mass when deducing the onboard propulsion system requirements. Results provided through this work will be helpful in further detailed system definition and design activities for future lunar missions with a CubeSat-based payload.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.79-95
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• 2021

This study aims to develop a restoration model of an armillary sphere of Tongcheon-ui (Pan-celestial Armillary Sphere) by referring to the records of Damheonseo (Hong Dae-Yong Anthology) and the artifact of an armillary sphere in the Korean Christian Museum of Soongsil University. Between 1760 and 1762, Hong, Dae-Yong (1731-1783) built Tongcheon-ui, with Na, Kyung-Jeok (1690-1762) designing the basic structure and Ann, Cheo-In (1710-1787) completing the assembly. The model in this study is a spherical body with a diameter of 510 mm. Tongcheon-ui operates the armillary sphere by transmitting the rotational power from the lantern clock. The armillary sphere is constructed in the fashion of a two-layer sphere: the outer one is Yukhab-ui that is fixed; and the inner one, Samsin-ui, is rotated around the polar axis. In the equatorial ring possessed by Samsin-ui, an ecliptic ring and a lunar-path ring are successively fixed and are tilted by 23.5° and 28.5° over the equatorial ring, respectively. A solar miniature attached to a 365-toothed inner gear on the ecliptic ring reproduces the annual motion of the Sun. A lunar miniature installed on a 114-toothed inner gear of the lunar-path ring can also replay the moon's orbital motion and phase change. By the set of 'a ratchet gear, a shaft and a spur gear' installed in the solstice-colure double-ring, the inner gears in the ecliptic ring and lunar-path ring can be rotated in the opposite direction to the rotation of Samsin-ui and then the solar and lunar miniatures can simulate their revolution over the period of a year and a month, respectively. In order to indicate the change of the moon phases, 27 pins were arranged in a uniform circle around the lunar-path ring, and the 29-toothed wheel is fixed under the solar miniature. At the center of the armillary sphere, an earth plate representing a world map is fixed horizontally. Tongcheon-ui is the armillary sphere clock developed by Confucian scholars in the late Joseon Dynasty, and the technical level at which astronomical clocks could be produced at the time is of a high standard.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.255-267
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• 2013

In this research, the ground contact opportunity for the fictitious low lunar orbiter is analyzed to prepare for a future Korean lunar orbiter mission. The ground contact opportunity is basically derived from geometrical relations between the typical ground stations at the Earth, the relative positions of the Earth and Moon, and finally, the lunar orbiter itself. Both the cut-off angle and the orbiter's Line of Sight (LOS) conditions (weather orbiter is located at near or far side of the Moon seen from the Earth) are considered to determine the ground contact opportunities. Four KOMPSAT Ground Stations (KGSs) are assumed to be Korea's future Near Earth Networks (NENs) to support lunar missions, and world-wide separated Deep Space Networks (DSNs) are also included during the contact availability analysis. As a result, it is concluded that about 138 times of contact will be made between the orbiter and the Daejeon station during 27.3 days of prediction time span. If these contact times are converted into contact duration, the duration is found to be about 8.55 days, about 31.31% of 27.3 days. It is discovered that selected four KGSs cannot provide continuous tracking of the lunar orbiter, meaning that international collaboration is necessary to track Korea's future lunar orbiter effectively. Possible combinations of world-wide separated DSNs are also suggested to compensate for the lack of contact availability with only four KGSs, as with primary and backup station concepts. The provided algorithm can be easily modified to support any type of orbit around the Moon, and therefore, the presented results could aid further progress in the design field of Korea's lunar orbiter missions.