South Korea’s first lunar orbiter is already making great strides. The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), which is also known as Danuri, reached lunar orbit in mid-December of 2022. Now, the South Korean moon probe is starting to return some of its first mages, and they’re absolutely breathtaking.
The images were shared on Twitter by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The photos were taken from a low lunar orbit, where Danuri currently resides. The resulting photographs are striking, providing a beautiful view of some of the peaks and craters that mark the Moon’s surface.
The photos from the South Korean moon probe were originally shared in April, but they’ve once again started to fill headlines as more space lovers discover them. There are four photos in all that were shared in the Twitter release. The first photo seen in the tweet is of the Tsiolkovsky crater.
The second image was taken of Schrödinger Valley, another iconic location on the lunar surface. It was taken with the same camera as the first photo. The third photo released in the KARI tweet is of the Wichmann crater, and it was taken using a polarization camera, which provides a bit of a different perspective on the lunar surface.
The fourth and final photo shared in the release is of the Szilard M Crater, and video of that crater was taken using the same high-resolution camera used for the first and second photos shared here. The success of the South Korean moon probe is exciting because it marks another time that a country has expanded beyond the bounds of our own planet.
Space exploration as a whole will rely on the greater parts of humanity coming together to accomplish great things, and celebrating this success is something that all space lovers should participate in.
If the South Korean moon probe continues to deliver such striking imagery of the moon, it could provide astronomers with more data to help outline future lunar operations, like Nokia’s plan to put 4G internet on the moon.
