"The World Is Focusing on Korea's First Lunar Exploration"[Reading Science]

International Journal Nature, "Most Anticipated Among Six Lunar Explorations Scheduled This Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] It is truly the era of the 'Moon Rush.' This year alone, a total of six countries have planned lunar exploration missions. However, scientists worldwide are particularly focusing on Korea's lunar probe, the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbit (KPLO), scheduled for launch this August.

On the 15th, the international academic journal Nature reported in a special feature on lunar exploration that "Among all the lunar missions planned for this year, scientists around the world are especially interested in Korea's first celestial exploration, KPLO." In an article titled "Why Six Countries Are Starting Lunar Exploration," Nature reported that Korea is one of the six countries, along with the United States, Japan, India, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia, pursuing lunar exploration. Notably, while other countries were described only in broad terms, the article devoted the most extensive coverage to Korea's KPLO.

According to Nature, the ShadowCam attached to KPLO, provided by NASA, is drawing particular attention. ShadowCam, a high-sensitivity visible light camera, is used to explore the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, which have not been well understood until now, and to send back high-resolution images. Professor Mark Robinson of Arizona State University explained, "The images captured by ShadowCam will help locate water at the lunar poles and may reveal unusual geological phenomena formed due to the Moon's extremely low temperatures."

Scientists worldwide are also interested in the observational results from several domestically produced instruments installed on KPLO. The wide-field polarization camera (PolCam), developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, is notable because it is the first time humanity will capture images of another celestial body using a polarization camera to create an overall image. Professor David Blewett of Johns Hopkins University said, "There has been very little research on photographing the surfaces of solid planets through polarization until now," adding, "(KPLO's polarization camera) will provide data on the composition and terrain of the lunar surface from various locations, which will be a very interesting subject for research." The images from the polarization camera are precise enough to measure the particle size of lunar soil, which will be referenced in selecting astronaut landing sites for the Artemis program's manned lunar missions planned after 2025.

Nature also highlighted the gamma-ray spectrometer developed by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources as a noteworthy scientific instrument. It can map the distribution of various resources on the Moon that humanity could mine, such as titanium and helium-3. Professor Ian Garrick-Bethell of the University of California said, "The properties of lunar dust, which covers almost the entire lunar surface, remain one of the great mysteries in science," adding, "Understanding how lunar dust is distributed by latitude will help scientists better understand the Moon's evolution."

The magnetometer (KMAG) developed by Kyung Hee University is also expected to help solve one of the Moon's mysteries. The Moon has a core made of iron like Earth, but it is smaller and colder. While Earth's liquid core rotates to generate a magnetic field, the Moon does not. Nevertheless, certain areas and rocks on the lunar surface exhibit strong magnetism to varying degrees. This has been a long-standing puzzle for scientists studying the Moon. Professor Garrick-Bethell expressed hope that "the magnetic field measurements from KPLO will help unravel the mystery of the Moon's magnetism."

Meanwhile, KPLO is scheduled to be launched on August 1 from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at the Orlando Spaceport in the United States. The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute are conducting a public contest to select the name for KPLO.