Korea's Lunar Exploration Program (KLEP)

As part of the national space promotion plan and presidential national agen-das, South Korea’s institutes and agencies under the auspices of the Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Future Planning (MSIP) are currently working on a phase-A study for a Korean Lunar Exploration Program (KLEP) [1]. A Korean pathfinder lunar orbiter (KPLO) is to be fol-lowed by a Korean Lunar Explorer (KLE) which con-stitutes an orbiter and a lander unit equipped with a small rover with a mass of approximately 20 kg

KPLO’s main scientific return is considered to be composed of visual and spectral image data, space environmental measurements and data related to lunar resources. For the exploration of lunar resources two major exploration areas need to be considered: (1) resources in polar regions for the potential establish-ment of lunar bases or (2) future energy resources such as Helium-3 and precious rare earth elements along with radioactive resources like Uranium. KPLO is planned to operate in a circular polar orbit at an orbit altitude of 100 km. Its size will be 1.9 x 1.7 x 2.3 (m) with a dry mass of 550 kg. The total science payload mass will amount to approximately 40 kg with instru-ments contributed by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and other Korean research institutes and centers, as well as NASA. The development peri-ods for KPLO and KLE are considered to be 2016–2018 and 2017–2020, respectively .

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