Moon probe sends stunning images to Earth

South Korea’s Danuri probe surprises again and again. Earlier this year, the spacecraft provided spectacular images of the Moon along with Earth. Now the probe has taken new pictures of the moon’s surface. And the graphics are stunningly detailed.

For example, one of the images shows the central summit of the Tsiolkovskiy crater, located on the far side of the moon. A central mountain is a feature that forms in the center of larger impact craters.

The Tsiolkovskiy crater and its central summit have been photographed on other lunar missions. But the recordings were never as detailed and sharp as the images from the high-resolution camera on board Danuri.

Another image shows the Vallis Schrödinger Valley, according to the South Korean space agency Korea Aerospace Research Institute (Kari). This is on the far side of the moon near the south pole. The valley is named after the nearby crater Schrödinger.

And another photo shows a view of the so-called Wichmann crater. This is a small crater on the far side of the moon, named after the German astronomer Moritz Ludwig Georg Wichmann (1821 – 1859).

Images were taken by Danuri’s Lunar Terrain Imager (Luti). This is one of many technical devices on board the spacecraft.

Another payload is NASA’s ShadowCam, which uses a reflection method to map areas of shadow to look for water ice deposits.

Danuri’s work is not yet finished. The lunar probe must take further pictures of the lunar surface, analyze them and measure the magnetic radiation and gamma rays.

South Korea launched its first self-developed space rocket last year. However, in August, a Falcon 9 rocket from the private American aerospace company SpaceX was used to launch Danuri into space.