First Korean Moon Mission Delivers Devastatingly Gorgeous Views of Earth

South Korea’s Danuri luner orbiter captured a knockout view of the moon and Earth in late December 2022.
KARI

Hello, Earth, you’re looking beautiful. South Korea’s Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter spacecraft, known as Danuri, has sent humanity some visual love letters from the moon. The spacecraft recently entered lunar orbit and turned a high-resolution camera toward home.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute shared the views on Twitter this week. The first two come from late December and show the cratered landscape of the moon with Earth peeking above the horizon.

#달 상공에서 #다누리 가 보낸 인증샷📷✨
이 사진은 다누리에 탑재된 고해상도 카메라(LUTI)를 이용해 촬영하였으며, 달 크레이터들과 지구의 모습을 선명하게 확인할 수 있습니다.

📷사진 설명
1)12월 24일 달 상공 344km에서 촬영한 사진
2)12월 28일 달 상공 124km에서 촬영한 사진 pic.twitter.com/pBC5Dw5X9M

— 한국항공우주연구원 (@kari2030) January 3, 2023

The images are reminiscent of Earthrise views seen from NASA’s Apollo and Artemis missions. The around-the-moon Artemis I mission sent back a lovely video of an Earthrise as seen from the uncrewed Orion capsule last year.

KARI shared a second set of Earth images snapped during the new year. 

2023년 새해에 다누리가 촬영한 지구와 달
다누리가 2022년 12월 31일과 2023년 1월 1일 계묘년 새해 첫날에 촬영한 지구-달 사진을 보내왔습니다.
다누리는 현재 탑재체들의 성능 확인 및 오차 조정 등 작업을 진행하고 있으며, 2월부터 본격적인 과학 기술 임무를 수행할 예정입니다.#다누리 pic.twitter.com/fBF1azldSj

— 한국항공우주연구원 (@kari2030) January 3, 2023

Danuri is South Korea’s first lunar mission. It launched in August 2022 on a SpaceX rocket and is scheduled to orbit the moon for a year. NASA contributed one instrument to the mission, a camera called ShadowCam that will capture images of the moon’s shadowy polar regions. The mission could help NASA select future moon landing sites. 

The name Danuri came about through a public contest and it’s the result of melding the Korean words for moon and enjoy. After seeing these images, the name couldn’t be more fitting.