<Anchor>
Korea's first lunar probe Danuri, which was launched last August, has successfully landed on its target orbit.
In the future, after changing posture and inspecting equipment, we will begin full-fledged lunar exploration from January next year.
This is reporter Seo Dong-gyun.
<Reporter>
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced that the lunar probe Danuri reached the target orbit of 100 km above the moon at around 11:06 am the day before yesterday (26th).
It has been 9 days since it stably entered lunar gravity on the 17th.
Danuri prepared five 'entry maneuvers' to descend into mission orbit, and was able to arrive in three with twice as much thrust as was planned for the second and fourth rounds.
Danuri is currently preparing for a lunar exploration by circling the moon once every two hours.
[Lee Sang-ryul/President of Korea Aerospace Research Institute: After 30 years of space development, I ended up staying in the area around the Earth and satellites around the Earth.
Now, we also think that the possibility of some kind of deep space has been opened.] For
future exploration, Danuri changes the attitude so that payloads such as cameras and communication devices can face the moon.
After a pilot operation of the payload in January next year, full-scale lunar observation will begin on February 1, one month later.
NASA's 'Shadow Cam' installed in Danuri looks for water by filming shadowed areas in lunar craters.
If the existence of water is confirmed, the area will be selected as one of the first candidates for a lunar base.
The wide-field polarization camera and gamma-ray spectrometer developed by Korea explore various resources on the moon, including helium-3, an energy source for nuclear fusion.
Danuri's mission period is one year from now.
Korea's space exploration capabilities accumulated through Danuri are expected to lead to the launch of Korea's first lunar lander in 2032.
(Video editing: Kim Jong-mi, CG: Seo Dong-min)