Houston, Texas – NASA officials have identified a mysterious object captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter last month. The elongated object was spotted by the orbiter’s narrow-angle camera during its routine pass over the Moon’s surface. The identity of the object and the reason for its unusual appearance in the images have now been disclosed by NASA.
In 2022, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute launched the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Known as Danuri, this marks South Korea’s first official mission to orbit the Moon for a year. Danuri is equipped with scientific instruments from South Korea and the United States to conduct experiments on the lunar environment and demonstrate a “lunar internet.”
During a close encounter in orbit, the KPLO and LRO passed each other, allowing the LRO to capture images of the South Korean spacecraft. The high travel speeds of both orbiters caused Danuri to appear elongated, appearing larger than its actual size in the photos taken by the LRO’s narrow-angle camera.
The images obtained by NASA in March are not the first time the two spacecraft have captured images of each other. Last April, the KPLO successfully obtained images of the LRO using ShadowCam. Danuri relies on a mono propulsion system with thrusters for orbital maneuvers.
While designed for a one-year mission, there is a possibility that the KPLO may enter an extended phase descending to a lower orbit. Apart from these two orbiters, there are at least ten other objects known to be orbiting the Moon, some of which are inactive.
For more information on the KPLO mission and the LRO’s data collection on the lunar surface, visit the respective NASA pages. Micah Hanks, Editor-in-Chief of The Debrief, can be reached via email or through his website and Twitter for more updates on this space mission.