Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is South Korea’s first space
exploration mission, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. It
aims to develop technologies for lunar exploration, explore lunar science, and
test new technologies. KPLO was launched on August 5, 2022, by a Falcon-9 launch
vehicle from cape canaveral space force station (CCSFS) in the United States and
placed on a ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) trajectory. A total of four
trajectory correction maneuvers were performed during the approximately
4.5-month trans-lunar cruise phase to reach the Moon. Starting with the first
lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver on December 16, the spacecraft performed a
total of three maneuvers before arriving at the lunar mission orbit, at an
altitude of 100 kilometers, on December 27, 2022. After entering lunar orbit,
the commissioning phase validated the operation of the mission mode, in which
the payload is oriented toward the center of the Moon. After completing about
one month of commissioning, normal mission operations began, and each payload
successfully performed its planned mission. All of the spacecraft operations
that KPLO performs from launch to normal operations were designed through the
system operations design process. This includes operations that are
automatically initiated post-separation from the launch vehicle, as well as
those in lunar transfer orbit and lunar mission orbit. Key operational
procedures such as the spacecraft’s initial checkout, trajectory
correction maneuvers, LOI, and commissioning were developed during the early
operation preparation phase. These procedures were executed effectively during
both the early and normal operation phases. The successful execution of these
operations confirms the robust verification of the system operation.