NASA’s ShadowCam launches aboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter

NASA’s ShadowCam heads to the moon aboard the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s (KARI) Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) mission. KPLO, also known as Danuri, lifted off August 4 at 7:08 p.m. EDT on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Developed by Arizona State University and Malin Space Science Systems, ShadowCam is one of five instruments aboard KARI’s KPLO spacecraft.

A hypersensitive optical camera, ShadowCam, will collect images of permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles. This allows ShadowCam to map the reflectivity of these regions to look for evidence of ice deposition, observe seasonal changes, and measure the terrain within the craters. The ShadowCam instrument was developed based on previous imagers such as those on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, but is hundreds of times more light sensitive to enable capture of detail in the permanently shadowed regions.

The data collected by ShadowCam and the other KPLO instruments will support future lunar exploration efforts, including Artemis. The high-resolution images, captured in extremely low light conditions, could aid in landing site selection and reconnaissance planning for future Artemis missions, providing insight into terrain and lighting conditions, as well as the distribution and accessibility of resources such as water ice, essential for are useful for a long time duration remains. ShadowCam’s data and unprecedented insights into the permanently shadowed regions could also help scientists learn more about the formation and evolution of the moon and our solar system.

In addition to ShadowCam, NASA is also providing communications and navigation support to KPLO and scientific support to the KPLO team through nine NASA-funded scientists. The Republic of Korea (ROK) signed the Artemis Accords last year and continues to work with NASA on lunar exploration.

In ROK, the orbiter is known as “Danuri” after a public naming contest resulted in a name combining the Korean words for “moon” (dal) and “enjoy” (nuri).

Over the next 4.5 months, KPLO will use a fuel-efficient Korean ballistic trajectory in a 62-mile (100 km) polar lunar orbit, where upon arrival it will begin operations for a planned 11-month mission.