LAUNCH TIME | August 5, 2022 - 01:08 |
LAUNCH PROVIDER | SpaceX |
CUSTOMER | Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) |
ROCKET | Falcon 9 Block 5 - Booster 1052 |
LAUNCH SITE | Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, Flordia |
PAYLOAD MASS | 678 kg |
DESTINATION | Trans Lunar Injection |
LANDING SITE | Just Read the Instructions |
WEATHER | 80% (45th Weather Squadron) |
SpaceX will launch the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) into lunar orbit atop a Falcon 9 Block 5.
The booster (B1052), after taking the second stage out of the earth's atmosphere, will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship located about 640 km off the coast of Florida.
The Falcon 9 fairings will be recovered from the sea approximately 730 km off the Florida coast by support vessel Bob.
What is KPLO?
The Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter was designed and built by South Korea's Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and is Korea's first lunar spacecraft.
Approximately one month after launch, the KLPO satellite will reach a circular lunar low polar orbit of 100 km via the ballistic lunar capture method.
To achieve this orbit, the vehicle has four 30N main thrusters and four 5N thrusters for attitude control.
For communications with the Earth, the vehicle has S- and X-band transponders which are powered by a set of 760 watt solar panels.
On board the satellite there are six instruments:
Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI) → This tool will be used to acquire images of the lunar surface and to explore future landing sites. The instrument has a resolution of about 5 meters.
Wide-angle polarimetric camera (PolCam) → PolCam will be used to investigate the entire lunar regolith, with the exception of the one on the poles.
KPLO Magnetometer (KMAG) → Instrument that will measure the strength of the lunar poles.
KPLO gamma ray spectrometer (KGRS) → Research tool for the composition of the lunar regolith.
Delay Tolerant Network Experiment (DTNPL).
NASA ShadowCam → The ShadowCam is a NASA instrument that will search for evidence of large ice deposits on the lunar surface.
Falcon 9
The Falcon 9 Block 5 is SpaceX's partially reusable two-stage launch vehicle. The vehicle consists of a reusable first stage, a consumable second stage and a reusable fairing pair.
The first stage The Falcon 9 first stage contains 9 Merlin 1D engines optimized for sea level. Each engine, powered by RP-1 and liquid oxygen (LOx), produces 845 kN of thrust at sea level.
After the separation from the second stage, the booster starts up some of the 9 engines to make a landing on the Landing Zones located on the coast or on the droneships located in the open sea. 2 motori durante il volo il veicolo rimane in grado di posizionare il payload in orbita
The second stage The second stage is the only expendable part of the Falcon 9. It contains a single Merlin 1D Vacuum motor that produces 992 kN of thrust. The second stage is capable of several ignitions, allowing the Falcon 9 to place loads in different orbits.
Fairings The Falcon 9 fairing is made up of two reusable halves. The first half is called the active half and houses the pneumatics for the separation system while the other is the passive half.
Both fairing halves feature thrusters and a parachute that are used to gently touch the fairing half into the ocean.