Featured Image Credit: SpaceX Launch Time August 4, 2022 – 23:08 UTC | 19:08 EDTMission Name KPLO, Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Launch Provider (Which rocket company launched it?) SpaceX Customer (Who paid for it?) Korea Aerospace Research Institute RocketFalcon 9 Block 5, B1052-6; 78.51 days lead time Launch location Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA Payload mass ~678 kg (~1500 kg) Where did the satellite go? Translunar injection (Initial orbit: 249 x 245 km orbit at 29.50 degrees) Did they try to recover the first stage? Yes Where did the first degree land? ~640 km down on Just read the instructions
Tug: Kurt J Crosby; Support: Bob
Have they tried rebuilding the fairings? The fairing halves were retrieved from the water ~730 km downwind of Bob. Are these fairings new? No, both fairings are flight proven This was: – 168th Falcon 9 launch – 106th booster flight proven Falcon 9 – 110th booster reflight – 32nd booster reflight in 2022 yr – 134th booster landing – 60th consecutive landing (record) – 34th launch for SpaceX in 2022 (record) – SpaceX’s 93rd launch from SLC-40 – 97th orbital attempt for launch in 2022 (94th successful) Where to watch Official replay
How did it go?
SpaceX successfully launched the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbit (KPLO) into lunar orbit atop a Falcon 9 Block 5. Taking off from Space Launch Complex 40, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida, the 678-kilogram spacecraft will explore lunar geography.
What is KPLO?
The KPLO spacecraft was built and developed by the South Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and is Korea’s first lunar spacecraft. Aiming to explore lunar resources (such as ice, helium, uranium, silicon, aluminum, etc.) as well as demonstrate Korea’s ability to build and operate a lunar spacecraft, KPLO is the first phase of their larger Korean program for Lunar Exploration (KLEP). ) plans.
Based on the encouraging success of KPLO, the second phase of KLEP includes a lunar orbiter, a lunar lander and a lunar rover. This mission is expected to launch in 2025.
Artist illustration of the KPLO spacecraft (Credit: Ministry of Science)
Spacecraft KLPO
Approximately one month after launch, the KLPO satellite will reach a 100 km circular polar low lunar orbit through the ballistic method of capturing the moon. To reach lunar orbit, the spacecraft has four 30 N main thrusters and four 5 N thrusters for orientation control. To stay in contact with Earth, KLPO has S-band and X-band transponders that are powered by a 760-watt array of solar panels.
The satellite has six instruments:
Lunar Terrain Photo (LUTI). As the name suggests, this instrument will be used to image the lunar surface and scout for future landing sites. The instrument has ~5-meter resolution.
Wide angle polarimetric camera (PolCam). Polarimetry is used to analyze regolith composition remotely. PolCam will be used to study the entire lunar regolith except for that at the poles.
Magnetometer KPLO (KMAG). As the name suggests, this instrument will be used to measure the strength of the lunar poles.
KPLO Gamma Spectrometer (KGRS). Using spectroscopy – the process of looking at emission gaps – this instrument will study the composition of the lunar regolith.
Delay Tolerance Network Experiment (DTNPL)
NASA ShadowCam. NASA’s ShadowCam will search the lunar surface for evidence of large ice deposits.
Falcon 9 Block 5?
The Falcon 9 Block 5 is SpaceX’s partially reusable two-stage launch vehicle. The vehicle consists of a reusable first stage, a reusable second stage and, when in payload configuration, a pair of reusable fairings.
First stage
The Falcon 9 first stage contains 9 Merlin 1D+ engines at sea level. Each engine uses an open cycle gas generator and runs on RP-1 and liquid oxygen (LOx). Each engine produces 845 kN thrust at sea level with a specific impulse (ISP) of 285 seconds and 934 kN in vacuum with an ISP of 313 seconds. Due to the powerful nature of the engine and the large number of them, the Falcon 9 first stage can lose one engine right off the pad or up to two later in flight and still be able to place the payload into orbit successfully.
Merlin engines are ignited by triethylaluminum and triethylborane (TEA-TEB), which instantly burst into flames when mixed in the presence of oxygen. During static fire and launch, the TEA-TEB is provided by the ground handling equipment. However, because the Falcon 9’s first stage is capable of propulsive landing, three of the Merlin engines (E1, E5 and E9) contain TEA-TEB re-ignition boxes for re-acceleration, re-entry and landing burns.
Second stage
The Falcon 9 second stage is the only replaceable part of the Falcon 9. It contains a single MVacD engine that produces 992 kN of thrust and an ISP of 348 seconds. The second stage is capable of multiple burns, allowing the Falcon 9 to place payloads in several different orbits.
For missions with many burns and/or long distances between burns, the second stage can be equipped with a mission extension package. When the second stage has this package, it has a gray band to help maintain the heat of the RP-1, an increased number of composite envelope pressure vessels (COPV) for pressure control, and additional TEA-TEB.
Falcon 9 Block 5 launches on Starlink Group 4-25 mission (Credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9 Booster
The booster that supported the KPLO mission was B1052, which supported five previous flights. Therefore, its designation for this mission is B1052-6; this changed to B1052-7 on successful landing.
B1052 Missions Launch Date (UTC) Execution Time (days) Arabsat-6AA 11 April 2019 22:35 N/ASTP-2 25 June 2019 06:3074.33CSG-2 31 January 2022 23: 11951.70 Starlink Group 4-10 March 29, 2022 4536.61 Starlink Group 4-18 May 18, 2022 10:5969.88KPLO August 4, 2022 23:0878.51
After stage separation, Falcon 9 performed two burns. These burns lightly touched the booster of the autonomous drone ship at the SpaceX spaceport. Just read the instructions.
Falcon 9 lands on Of Course I Still Love You after Bob and Doug’s launch (Credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9 fairings
The Falcon 9 fairing consists of two different reusable halves. The first half (the half that faces the transport assembly mechanism) is called the active half and houses the pneumatics for the separation system. The other half of the fairing is called the passive half. As the name suggests, this half plays a purely passive role in the fairing separation process as it relies on the pneumatics from the active half.
Both fairing halves are equipped with cold gas thrusters and parafoils that are used to gently touch the fairing half into the ocean. SpaceX had been trying to capture the fairing halves, but in late 2020 that program was canceled due to safety risks and a low success rate. At KPLO, SpaceX attempted to retrieve the fairing halves from the water with their Doug recovery ship.
In 2021, SpaceX began flying a new version of the Falcon 9 fairing. The new “upgraded” version has vents only at the top of each half of the fairing, up to the gap between the halves, whereas the old version had vents equally spaced around the base of the fairing. Relocating the vents reduces the chance of water entering the fairing, making the chance of successful scooping significantly higher.
Falcon 9 active fairing half (Credit: Greg Scott) Falcon 9 passive fairing half (Credit: Greg Scott) Half of the fairing is removed from the Go. Navigator. (Credit: Lupi) Passive fairing half unloaded by Shelia Bordelon after the Starlink V1.0 L22 mission (Credit: Kyle M)
KPLO Countdown
All times are approximate
HR/MIN/SECEVENT00:38:00SpaceX Launch Director checks propellant loading00:35:00RP-1 (rocket fuel) loading in progress00:35:001st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading00:16:002- th stage LOX is loaded00:07:00Falcon 9 begins engine cooling before launch00:01:00Flight computer command to begin final pre-launch checks00:01:00Fuel tank pressurization begins to initial flight pressure00:00:00Takeoff on Falcon 9
KPLO launch, landing and deployment
All times are approximate
HR/MIN/SECEVENT00:01:12Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on rocket)00:02:311th stage main engine shutdown (MECO)00:02:341st and 2nd stages separately 00:02 :422nd Engine Stage (SES) -1)00:03:15Fair Deployment00:06:491st Entry Stage Begins00:07:191st Entry Stage Complete00:07:581st Landing Stage Begins00 :08:332nd stage engine cut-off (SECO)00:09:011th stage landing00 :34:152nd stage engine restart (SES-2)00:35:152nd stage engine cut-off (SECO- 2)00:40:16KPLO deploys
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