• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.51-61
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• 2014

In this work, the preliminary analysis on both the tracking schedule and measurements characteristics for the spacecraft on the phase of lunar transfer and capture is performed. To analyze both the tracking schedule and measurements characteristics, lunar transfer and capture phases' optimized trajectories are directly adapted from former research, and eleven ground tracking facilities (three Deep Space Network sties, seven Near Earth Network sites, one Daejeon site) are assumed to support the mission. Under these conceptual mission scenarios, detailed tracking schedules and expected measurement characteristics during critical maneuvers (Trans Lunar Injection, Lunar Orbit Insertion and Apoapsis Adjustment Maneuver), especially for the Deajeon station, are successfully analyzed. The orders of predicted measurements' variances during lunar capture phase according to critical maneuvers are found to be within the order of mm/s for the range and micro-deg/s for the angular measurements rates which are in good agreement with the recommended values of typical measurement modeling accuracies for Deep Space Networks. Although preliminary navigation accuracy guidelines are provided through this work, it is expected to give more practical insights into preparing the Korea's future lunar mission, especially for developing flight dynamics subsystem.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.43-60
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• 2024

Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is South Korea's first space exploration mission, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. It aims to develop technologies for lunar exploration, explore lunar science, and test new technologies. KPLO was launched on August 5, 2022, by a Falcon-9 launch vehicle from cape canaveral space force station (CCSFS) in the United States and placed on a ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) trajectory. A total of four trajectory correction maneuvers were performed during the approximately 4.5-month trans-lunar cruise phase to reach the Moon. Starting with the first lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver on December 16, the spacecraft performed a total of three maneuvers before arriving at the lunar mission orbit, at an altitude of 100 kilometers, on December 27, 2022. After entering lunar orbit, the commissioning phase validated the operation of the mission mode, in which the payload is oriented toward the center of the Moon. After completing about one month of commissioning, normal mission operations began, and each payload successfully performed its planned mission. All of the spacecraft operations that KPLO performs from launch to normal operations were designed through the system operations design process. This includes operations that are automatically initiated post-separation from the launch vehicle, as well as those in lunar transfer orbit and lunar mission orbit. Key operational procedures such as the spacecraft's initial checkout, trajectory correction maneuvers, LOI, and commissioning were developed during the early operation preparation phase. These procedures were executed effectively during both the early and normal operation phases. The successful execution of these operations confirms the robust verification of the system operation.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.331-342
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• 2017

To ensure the successful launch of the Korea pathfinder lunar orbiter (KPLO) mission, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is now performing extensive trajectory design and analysis studies. From the trajectory design perspective, it is crucial to prepare contingency trajectory options for the failure of the first lunar brake or the failure of the first lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver. As part of the early phase trajectory design and analysis activities, the required time of flight (TOF) and associated delta-V magnitudes for each recovery maneuver (RM) to recover the KPLO mission trajectory are analyzed. There are two typical trajectory recovery options, direct recovery and low energy recovery. The current work is focused on the direct recovery option. Results indicate that a quicker execution of the first RM after the failure of the first LOI plays a significant role in saving the magnitudes of the RMs. Under the conditions of the extremely tight delta-V budget that is currently allocated for the KPLO mission, it is found that the recovery of the KPLO without altering the originally planned mission orbit (a 100 km circular orbit) cannot be achieved via direct recovery options. However, feasible recovery options are suggested within the boundaries of the currently planned delta-V budget. By changing the shape and orientation of the recovered final mission orbit, it is expected that the KPLO mission may partially pursue its scientific mission after successful recovery, though it will be limited.

• 한국항공우주학회지
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• 제36권4호
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• pp.357-367
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• 2008

향후 우리나라의 달탐사 임무에 대비하여 순간 추력을 이용한 한국형 달탐사 예비 임무 설계 소프트웨어를 개발하였다. 달 탐사 임무 수행을 위한 지구 출발 단계, 달 천이 단계, 달 도착 및 임무 수행 궤도 단계를 포함한 임무 설계가 이루어 졌다. 이 소프트웨어를 이용하면 순간 추력을 사용한 최적의 달탐사 비행궤적을 설계할 수 있다. 이를 바탕으로 우리나라의 우주 발사체인 KSLV-II를 사용할 때의 발사 가능한 달 탐사선의 최대 질량을 산출하여 보았다. 아울러 심우주 추적망을 이용하여 탐사선의 추적 가능 여부에 대한 해석이 이루어 졌으며 탐사선과의 통신, 태양 전지판의 지향점 해석 그리고 식기간의 분석을 위한 지구-달-탐사선-태양 간의 기하학적 위치에 대한 해석도 함께 이루어졌다.

• 항공우주산업기술동향
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.62-76
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• 2010

본 논문에서는 최근에 다른 나라에서 진행된 무인 달 착륙선의 설계에 대한 사례 조사를 수행하고 이를 통하여 무인 달 착륙선의 설계 동향을 파악하였다. 무인 달 착륙선으로는 일본의 SELENE-2, 유럽의 LEDA와 MoonNEXT, 미국의 모듈형 소형 우주선을 이용한 달 탐사, 그리고 미국이 제안한 국제 달 탐사 네트워크의 미국 노드인 Anchor Nodes의 임무 수행을 위하여 설계된 달 착륙선 등을 조사의 대상으로 하였다. 각 조사 대상의 착륙선에 대하여 임무 요구 조건을 확인하고, 임무 설계의 내용을 조사하였다. 또한 달 표면에 안전하게 착륙하기 위한 유도제어의 방법, 센서의 구성, 임무 요구 사양을 만족하기 위하여 선정한 센서 및 구동기의 성능 사양 등을 분석하였다.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제40권4호
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• pp.199-215
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• 2023

The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), the first South Korea lunar exploration probe, successfully arrived at the Moon on December, 2022 (UTC), following a 4.5-month ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) trajectory. Since the launch (4 August, 2022), the KPLO magnetometer (KMAG) has carried out various observations during the trans-lunar cruise phase and a 100 km altitude lunar polar orbit. KMAG consists of three fluxgate magnetometers capable of measuring magnetic fields within a ± 1,000 nT range with a resolution of 0.2 nT. The sampling rate is 10 Hz. During the originally planned lifetime of one year, KMAG has been operating successfully while performing observations of lunar crustal magnetic fields, magnetic fields induced in the lunar interior, and various solar wind events. The calibration and offset processes were performed during the TLC phase. In addition, reliabilities of the KMAG lunar magnetic field observations have been verified by comparing them with the surface vector mapping (SVM) data. If the KPLO's mission orbit during the extended mission phase is close enough to the lunar surface, KMAG will contribute to updating the lunar surface magnetic field map and will provide insights into the lunar interior structure and lunar space environment.

• 한국항공우주학회지
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• 제45권8호
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• pp.662-670
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• 2017

본 논문에서는 한국형 달 착륙 임무를 위한 아폴로 유도 법칙의 파라미터 선정을 위한 최적화 기반의 절차를 제안하였다. 달 착륙 문제를 연료 소모량을 최소화하기 위한 궤적 최적화 문제로 공식화하였으며 비행 이전 단계에서 본 문제를 풀어 착륙선의 기준 궤적을 획득할 수 있다. 아폴로 유도의 파라미터들은 유도 명령을 정의하기 위해 사용되는 다항식의 계수들이며, 비행 이전 단계에서 구해진 기준 궤적을 기반으로 선정된다. 제안된 절차의 효과를 입증하기 위해, 본 절차를 사용한 한국형 달 착륙 임무의 착륙 유도 사례연구를 수행하였다.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.247-264
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• 2014

In this paper, a brief but essential development strategy for the lunar orbit determination system is discussed to prepare for the future Korea's lunar missions. Prior to the discussion of this preliminary development strategy, technical models of foreign agencies for the lunar orbit determination system, tracking networks to measure the orbit, and collaborative efforts to verify system performance are reviewed in detail with a short summary of their lunar mission history. Covered foreign agencies are European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Indian Space Research Organization and China National Space Administration. Based on the lessons from their experiences, the preliminary development strategy for Korea's future lunar orbit determination system is discussed with regard to the core technical issues of dynamic modeling, numerical integration, measurement modeling, estimation method, measurement system as well as appropriate data formatting for the interoperability among foreign agencies. Although only the preliminary development strategy has been discussed through this work, the proposed strategy will aid the Korean astronautical society while on the development phase of the future Korea's own lunar orbit determination system. Also, it is expected that further detailed system requirements or technical development strategies could be designed or established based on the current discussions.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.123-129
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• 2023

This paper presents an analysis of the trans-lunar trajectory insertion performance of the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), the first lunar exploration spacecraft of the Republic of Korea. The successful launch conducted on August 4, 2022 (UTC), utilized the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The trans-lunar trajectory insertion performance plays a crucial role in ensuring the overall mission success by directly influencing the spacecraft's onboard fuel consumption. Following separation from the launch vehicle (LV), a comprehensive analysis of the trajectory insertion performance was performed by the KPLO flight dynamics (FD) team. Both orbit parameter message (OPM) and orbit determination (OD) solutions were employed using deep space network (DSN) tracking measurements. As a result, the KPLO was accurately inserted into the ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) trajectory, satisfying all separation requirements at the target interface point (TIP), including launch injection energy per unit mass (C3), right ascension of the injection orbit apoapsis vector (RAV), and declination of the injection orbit apoapsis vector (DAV). The precise BLT trajectory insertion facilitated the smoother operation of the KPLO's remainder mission phase and enabled the utilization of reserved fuel, consequently significantly enhancing the possibilities of an extended mission.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.237-247
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• 2020

The ground tracking support is a critical factor for the navigation performance of spacecraft orbiting around the Moon. Because of the tracking limit of antennas, only a small number of facilities can support lunar missions. Therefore, case studies for various ground tracking support conditions are needed for lunar missions on the stage of preliminary mission analysis. This study analyzes the ground supporting condition effect on orbit determination (OD) of Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) in the lunar orbit. For the assumption of ground support conditions, daily tracking frequency, cut-off angle for low elevation, tracking measurement accuracy, and tracking failure situations were considered. Two antennas of deep space network (DSN) and Korea Deep Space Antenna (KDSA) are utilized for various tracking conditions configuration. For the investigation of the daily tracking frequency effect, three cases (full support, DSN 4 pass/day and KDSA 4 pass/day, and DSN 2 pass/day and KDSA 2 pass/day) are prepared. For the elevation cut-off angle effect, two situations, which are 5 deg and 10 deg, are assumed. Three cases (0%, 30%, and 50% of degradation) were considered for the tracking measurement accuracy effect. Three cases such as no missing, 1-day KDSA missing, and 2-day KDSA missing are assumed for tracking failure effect. For OD, a sequential estimation algorithm was used, and for the OD performance evaluation, position uncertainty, position differences between true and estimated orbits, and orbit overlap precision according to various ground supporting conditions were investigated. Orbit prediction accuracy variations due to ground tracking conditions were also demonstrated. This study provides a guideline for selecting ground tracking support levels and preparing a backup plan for the KPLO lunar mission phase.