The Kaguya (formerly called SELENE) moon probe was launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency on September 14th, 2007. The main scientific objectives of the Kaguya mission were to obtain data of the lunar origin and evolution, and to scout out the Moon for future lunar exploration. Kaguya consisted of three parts: a 3-ton main orbiter which orbited the Moon at an altitude of 100km, and the smaller Relay and VRAD Satellites, which orbited and gathered information about the poles.
Kaguya studied the lunar soil in an effort to understand the formation and evolution of the Moon. It also studied the plasma and electromagnetic field surrounding the Moon, and turned these instruments towards the Earth to do the same. Kaguya was equipped with a high definition camera, and captured some beautiful videos of the Earth rising above the horizon of the moon, embedded below.
The Kaguya probe was named after a character in a Japanese fairy tale. Kaguya was a baby that was found in a bamboo thicket by an old couple, and she turns out to be a princess from the Moon. The mini-satellites, Relay and VRAD, were named Okina and Ouna, after the mythological parents of Kaguya.
Kaguya returned some fantastic visual and scientific data, much of which can be found at the mission web site. Kaguya was impacted in the south-east of the near side of the Moon on June 10, 2009. The flash that the craft made upon impact was even visible from the Earth!
The Planetary Society has an excellent summary of Kaguya’s science instruments, found here, and a detailed summary of the science objectives here. The Kaguya mission’s images were compiled into a this 3-D Moon browser – it’s only available in Japanese, but will have an English browser available soon. Kaguya was also mentioned in Episode 115 of Astronomy Cast.
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