• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.149-171
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• 2023

ShadowCam is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration Advanced Exploration Systems funded instrument hosted onboard the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) satellite. By collecting high-resolution images of permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), ShadowCam will provide critical information about the distribution and accessibility of water ice and other volatiles at spatial scales (1.7 m/pixel) required to mitigate risks and maximize the results of future exploration activities. The PSRs never see direct sunlight and are illuminated only by light reflected from nearby topographic highs. Since secondary illumination is very dim, ShadowCam was designed to be over 200 times more sensitive than previous imagers like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Narrow Angle Camera (LROC NAC). ShadowCam images thus allow for unprecedented views into the shadows, but saturate while imaging sunlit terrain.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.26-43
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• 2023

As Korean first lunar probe, Danuri, succeeded in entering lunar orbit, Korean new space exploration plans such as Mars exploration can be expected. Korean space exploration payload is developed only in a limited field, so there is a need to create a new space exploration payload. In foreign countries, there is a mass spectrometer as a basic equipment for space exploration, and it is a very useful payload that encompasses the exploration of life through the analysis of organic matter as well as the observation of the atmosphere and volatile substances of the exploration target. However, Korea has never developed a mass spectrometer payload for space exploration, so it is necessary to secure technology in preparation for future space exploration. Before that, we look at the scientific achievements of foreign mass spectrometer payloads for space exploration and identify trends.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.36.2-36.2
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• 2018

Cosmic reionization era in the early universe was playing a leading part on making the present universe we know. However, we have not been able to reveal the main contributor to the cosmic reionization to date. Faint quasars have been mentioned as the alternative due to the uncertainty of the faint end slope of the quasars luminosity function. With the availability of the deep (~25mag) images from Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Strategic Program survey, we have tried to find more quasar with low luminosity in the ELAIS-N1 field. Faint quasar candidates were selected from several multi-band color cut criteria based on the track of the simulated quasar at z ~ 5. The Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) and The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) - Deep Extragalactic Survey (DXS) provide J band information which is used to cover the relatively long wavelength range of quasar spectra. To search the reliable candidates with possible Lyman break, medium-band observation was performed by the SED camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse(SQUEAN) in the McDonald observatory and Seoul National University 4k Camera(SNUCAM) in the Maidanak observatory. Photometric redshifts of the observed candidates were estimated from chi-square minimization. Also, we predicted the importance of the faint quasar to the cosmic reionization from the expected number density of the faint quasar.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.240-246
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• 2016

The hottest news and achievements of space science and research in recent years may be NASA Curiosity rover's exploration (2013) of Mars, China Chang'e 3's exploration (2013) of Moon, ESA Rosetta's exploration (2014) of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and NASA New Horizons' exploration (2015) of Pluto, which are very astonishing achievement since such a deep space journey was possible with current technology. In contrast the wonderful cruise and navigation technologies evolution of explorer in deep space, there are no remarkable changes in deep space data communication, it is still in conservative area, of which much changes are reluctantly accepted so far. But there are some movements of deep space exploration in order to allow ground brilliant technologies to deep space. One of those experiments is internet, whose main topic of this paper. In this paper, we will present the analysis of effectiveness of solar system internet to deep space exploration.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.195-205
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• 2022

Space exploration is an area where international cooperation takes place more actively than any other space activities such as Earth observation, communication and navigation. This is because a country cannot afford a huge budget to have full infrastructure for deep space exploration, such as a heavy launch vehicle, communication and energy infrastructure, and human habitats, and has learned that it is not sustainable. Korea expressed its willingness to join humanity's epic exploration journey by signing the Artemis Accords in 2021 and launching Danuri lunar orbiter in 2022. The beginning of space exploration means that Korea's space activities have expanded beyond the stage of focusing only on technology development to set norms necessary to accompany other countries and cooperate diplomatically to solve exposed problems. This paper analyzed European space policy and space exploration, which are most actively participating in the Artemis Program and exerting diplomatic power in the space field, from the perspective of science and technology diplomacy. The suggestions for Korea's space exploration strategy from the perspective of science and technology diplomacy were drawn by examining the international cooperation strategies in Europe's space activities ranging from space policy, space strategy, and space exploration program to project units.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.741-757
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• 2016

Over 60 years has passed since mankinds started space exploration beyond the Earth with lunar explorer Luna 1 launched by Soviet Union. Unprecedently remarkable outcomes have been obtained by sending unmanned spacecrafts to most planets in the solar system and having the lander landed on the approaching comet toward the Earth even though any evidence of life presence has not been discovered yet. Only moon is an natural object beyond the earth on which human beings landed. Many countries are planning to send humans to the moon or mars to build colonies and to survive with substantiality. Korean lunar exploration program has officially started as of 2016 after its plan including lunar exploration has been specified in the series of National Space Promotion Plan since Korea initiated space development in early 1990s. In this paper, the plan for Korean space exploration is summarized with reviewing overseas space exploration program status and trends.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.413-422
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• 2012

In recent years, a number of missions have been planned and conducted worldwide on the planets such as Mars, which involves the unmanned robotic exploration with the use of rover. The rover is an important system for unmanned planetary exploration, performing the locomotion and sample collection and analysis at the exploration target of the planetary surface designated by the operator. This study investigates the development of mobility system for the rover ground model necessary to the planetary surface exploration for the benefit of future planetary exploration mission in Korea. First, the requirements for the rover mobility system are summarized and a new mechanism is proposed for a stable performance on rough terrain which consists of the passive suspension system with 8 wheeled double 4-bar linkage (DFBL), followed by the performance evaluation for the mechanism of the mobility system based on the shape design and simulation. The proposed mobility system DFBL was compared with the Rocker-Bogie suspension system of US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration and 8 wheeled mobility system CRAB8 developed in Switzerland, using the simulation to demonstrate the superiority with respect to the stability of locomotion. On the basis of the simulation results, a general system configuration was proposed and designed for the rover manufacture.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.278-281
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• 2004

To realize magnetic sails, momentum of the solar wind should be efficiently transferred to a spacecraft via magnetic field, which is produced around a spacecraft. In this paper, two important physical processes are addressed: 1) diffusive processes caused by plasma turbulence at the magnetospheric boundary around the spacecraft; and 2) field aligned current loops that will electrically connect the magnetospheric boundary and the spacecraft. The idea of the magnetic sails will be demonstrated by an experimental simulator, in which a fast plasma beam will penetrate into a dipole magnetic field. For that purpose, the two important physical processes should be scaled down to a small laboratory experiment in a space chamber. From the scaling considerations, the interaction can be scaled down if high-speed and high-density $(10^{19}m^{-3})$ plasma jet is used with 1-T-class magnetic field.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.19-33
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• 2022

Planarity geotechnical exploration missions were actively performed during the 1970s and there was a period of decline from the 1 990s to the 2000s because of budget. However, exploring space resources is essential to prepare for the depletion of Earth's resources in the future and explore resources abundant in space but scarce on Earth, such as rare earth and helium-3. Additionally, the development of space technology has become the driving force of future industry development. The competition among developed countries for exoplanet exploration has recently accelerated for the exploration and utilization of space resources. For these missions and resource exploration/mining, geotechnical exploration is required. There have been several missions to explore exoplanet ground, including the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. There are Apollo, LUNA, and Chang'E missions for exploration of the Moon. The Mars missions included Viking, Spirit/Opportunity, Phoenix, and Perseverance missions, and the asteroid missions included the Hayabusa missions. In this study, space planetary mineral resource exploration technologies are explained, and the future technological tasks of Korea are described.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2023

On Aug. 4, 2022, at 23:08:48 (UTC), the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri, was launched using a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Currently, KPLO is successfully conducting its science mission around the Moon. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Deep Space Network (DSN) was utilized for the successful flight operation of KPLO. A great deal of joint effort was made between the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and NASA DSN team since the beginning of KPLO ground system design for the success of the mission. The efficient utilization and management of NASA DSN in deep space exploration are critical not only for the spacecraft's telemetry and command but also for tracking the flight dynamics (FD) operation. In this work, the top-level DSN interface architecture, detailed workflows, DSN support levels, and practical lessons learned from the joint team's efforts are presented for KPLO's successful FD operation. Due to the significant joint team's efforts, KPLO is currently performing its mission smoothly in the lunar mission orbit. Through KPLO cooperative operation experience with DSN, a more reliable and efficient partnership is expected not only for Korea's own deep space exploration mission but also for the KARI-NASA DSN joint support on other deep space missions in the future.