South Korea's first lunar probe will enter the lunar orbit on December 17.

CTOnews.com, December 15 (Xinhua)-- South Korea's first lunar probe, "DANURI" (meaning to enjoy the moon), will arrive 108km from the moon in the early hours of December 17th, the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology Information and Communication and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced, according to a report by Korea Radio International.

It is expected that at around 2: 45 a.m., DANURI will make its first near-moon brake into lunar orbit, which is also the most difficult part of the whole exploration process.

After the normal completion of the first near-moon braking, DANURI will perform four more near-moon brakes to enter a circular orbit 100km above the moon. After entering the mission orbit, DANURI will be put into trial operation in January next year, followed by an one-year lunar exploration mission.

CTOnews.com learned that the probe was launched in Florida on August 5 this year on the Falcon 9 rocket of the US Space Exploration Technology Corporation, making South Korea the seventh country in the world to successfully launch a lunar probe.

South Korea has previously officially announced the "blueprint for future cosmic economic development", pointing out the vision of leaping into a cosmic economic power in the next 20 years. It is said that South Korea plans to successfully land on the moon and exploit lunar resources in 2032, 10 years later, and will land on Mars on its own in 2045, which marks the 100th anniversary of retrocession.