“Moon Born Japanese Princess”, Kaguya, Returning Home
With so much focus on going to Mars and finding life on the dusty red planet, going to the Moon seems to be second-hand news to most. But on September 14, 2007, the Japanese lunar probe Kayuga launched from the Tanegashima space center after an initial weather delay. Currently in Earth orbit, the probe will leave for the moon on October 3, 2007 with scientific observations beginning on October 21, 2007.
A leading theory in the scientific field is that the Moon was formed from debris that came from Mars-sized object that crashed onto Earth about 4.5 billion years ago.
The Japanese Space Agency hopes that Kaguya’s data when it returns provides an understanding of Earth’s origins with the Moon data. Recognized as the most advanced spacecraft in 30 years that has been sent to the moon since the Apollo missions in the 1970s, the Kaguya is formerly known as SELENE, for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer. Named after a Japanese legend and its main character who travels to the moon, the probe was launched aboard an H-IIA rocket at 101 JST (0131 GMT) from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.
Once the spacecraft becomes close to the moon, the Kayuga will split into three separate satellites. One is a three-ton orbiter will is scheduled to orbit the moon at an altitude of 100km. The two smaller satellites or “baby probes” weighing about 50-kilograms each—Relay and VRAD—will orbit the moon while simultaneously gathering information about the poles of the planet.
The three trajectories of each craft have been developed to measure precisely in order to build up a detailed map of the gravity field of the Moon. The main spacecraft is equipped with the most highly-detailed technology available for space, with a ground-penetrating radar which will investigate the Moon’s structure to below the surface from above.
According to Shiga’s article, the spectrometers will also reveal a mineral distribution on the surface of the Moon, while a laser altimeter will map its topography and a high-resolution camera will image its surface in detail. But will be the most exciting to the general public on Earth is a “high-definition television camera that will capture movies of the Earth rising above the Moon’s horizon” in order for the people on Earth to see the majestical view of home and its Moon.
Source: NewScientistSpace. 13 September 2007. “Trio of Japanese spacecraft to study Moon’s origin. David Shiga.
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 16th, 2007 at 6:28 am and is filed under Space Agency News, The Gear to Get There. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
