According to South Korea’s space agency, Friday, a mission in cooperation with NASA for launching a solar coronagraph to the International Space Station is underway. Designed by the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment, or CODEX, it will be set in place to observe and obtain data on the corona of the Sun, its solar wind, that comprises the stream of charged particles coming out of the Sun’s outer atmosphere. According to Yonhap News Agency, the CODEX device will be launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday.
Bilateral Project to Study Solar Atmosphere
The CODEX project is a very important collaboration between KASA and NASA, wherein CODEX marked a pioneering achievement as the world’s first coronagraph equipped to measure temperature, velocity, and density within the solar wind. Once launched into orbit and docked with the ISS, CODEX will be installed on the express logistics carrier of the space station, allowing for a little over 55 minutes of solar observation in each of the 90 minute orbits around Earth. Such data are expected to eventually help researchers improve their view of the solar wind — which may in turn make it easier to predict such space weather.
South Korea To Expand Cooperation with NASA
South Korea and the United States have strengthened their cooperation in space exploration alongside the CODEX project. KASA and NASA signed a statement of cooperation with a focus on research initiatives, such as the Artemis lunar exploration program. KASA is involved in the Artemis project through studies related to sustainable lunar exploration and progress in preparations for the Mars mission. With this agreement, South Korea has become the fifth country to officially cooperate with NASA on such initiatives.
Early Feasibility Studies and Innovative Developments
South Korea and the US will develop in collaboration feasibility studies relevant to lunar landers. At the same time, joint improvements in communication and navigation and astronaut support will also be implemented. They also agreed on cooperative SCIENCE, autonomous power, robotics systems, and cis-lunar space operations -all encompassing the area of the Earth to the Moon.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.