Researchers at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) monitor the Danuri's first lunar orbit insertion maneuver at the institute's operation control room in Daejeon, Dec. 17. Courtesy of KARI

By Baek Byung-yeul

The Danuri lunar orbiter, Korea's domestically developed lunar orbiter, succeed in the first of five planned maneuvers for a lunar orbit flyby on Saturday, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said Monday.

"The KARI carried out the Danuri's first lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver as planned at 2:45 a.m., Dec. 17," the space agency said.

"The first maneuver was the most important one to ensure that the Danuri is stably captured by the moon's gravity and does not overshoot the moon," it added.

The space agency previously said the LOI process was carried out by automatically executing commands sent to the Danuri in advance at a set time. But the progress before and after the LOI was monitored in real time on the ground.

After the first LOI, the KARI analyzed orbit information for about two days and confirmed Monday that the Danuri reduced its speed from about 8,000 kilometers per hour to 7,500 kilometers per hour.

Researchers at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) review data after carrying out the Danuri's first lunar orbit insertion maneuver at the institute's operation control room in Daejeon, Dec. 17. Courtesy of KARI

The Danuri is scheduled to perform five LOI maneuvers until Dec. 28 to settle into orbit 100 kilometers above the moon. Whether the space vehicle has entered lunar orbit properly will be confirmed on Dec. 29.

"The Danuri was captured by lunar gravity and now we can say it truly became a lunar orbiter that orbits the moon," the KARI said. The lunar orbiter's next four LOIs will be carried out on Dec. 21, 24, 26 and 28.

Carried by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, the unmanned Danuri was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Aug. 5.

After being launched into space, it headed to the moon using a ballistic lunar transfer trajectory method that uses the gravities of the Earth, the moon and the sun to enter lunar orbit.

Once the lunar orbiter is confirmed to successfully settle into the moon's orbit, it will conduct the initial operation of the payload and the function test in January. From February, it will carry out scientific observation, the KARI said.

The Danuri is equipped with five pieces of observation equipment developed in Korea and a ShadowCam device from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that can observe the darkest parts of the moon's surface.