ИСТИНА

As part of the national space promotion plan and presidential national agendas, South Korea’s institutes and agencies under the auspices of the Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Future Planning (MSIP) are currently working on a phase-A study for a Korean Lunar Exploration Program (KLEP). In this scenario a Korean pathfinder lunar orbiter (KPLO) is to be followed by a Korean Lunar Explorer (KLE) which constitutes an orbiter and a lander unit equipped with a small rover. Key goals of the Korean lunar mission are (1) targeted investigations of the lunar geology and space environment, (2) exploration of lunar resources, and (3) testing of future space and planetary exploration technology which will assist in future human activities on the Moon and beyond. To accomplish the main goals of the mission, a set of candidate lunar landing sites need to be considered. The goal of landing-site selection is to identify (1) regions for potential resource exploration and (2) regions of scientific interest. Furthermore, we will concentrate on the identification of technologically feasible and safe landing areas under consideration of engineering constraints which will be imposed by mission, spacecraft and payload layout. While priority has been given to resource investigation, an integral role will be played by engineering studies and demonstrators. In order to investigate prospective landing sites, auxiliary datasets and spatial data analyses will be derived using image, multi- and hyperspectral as well as topography data. Investigations will then rely on (1) extraction of regional sub-sets based on high-level constraints, (2) identification of sites for potential resource exploration, (3) narrowing down operation sites based on low-level constraints, such as hazards.