South Korea and the United States are set to send a jointly developed solar coronagraph to the International Space Station(ISS) aboard Space X's Falcon 9 rocket in October to enhance solar observation.

According to the Korea Aerospace Administration and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute on Thursday, final inspections of the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment(CODEX) instrument were completed by early August.

Seoul has contributed 20 billion won, or approximately 15 million U.S. dollars, to the collaborative project between the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA).

CODEX, the world’s first coronagraph designed to observe the temperature, velocity, and density of solar wind, will be tasked with gathering information on the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, and solar wind for up to two years.

The mission is expected to help enhance understanding of solar wind and improve space weather predictions.