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A Korean team has independently developed a small unmanned lunar module. Kwon Se-jin, a professor of aerospace engineering at KAIST, on Thursday said the team, in collaboration with Space Solution, have developed and tested a module that can travel to the moon from the earth's orbit and land on the moon's surface with its own engine propulsion.
The lunar module can be carried on a rocket into the earth's orbit and propel itself on into lunar orbit from there with its own engine several times. It measures 40 cm by 40 cm and consists of a propulsion engine and a control system. It can land on the moon's surface using its four legs. The engine also reduces the speed for the moon landing.
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/Courtesy of KAIST
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The International Lunar Network led by the NASA presumes that it costs approximately US$100 million (about W150 billion) to manufacture an unmanned lunar module. Kwon said, "It's expensive to guarantee the safety of developers of an American module because the fuel contains carcinogens. But it will cost a mere $50 million (about W75 billion), roughly a half the cost for the American device, to make a Korean module, because we use environment-friendly fuel."
Kwon said the goal is to send a module to the moon, gather useful materials there and have it return to earth.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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