Japan is carrying the country’s hopes of restoring pride in its troubled space program after the successful launch of a rocket today that is sending a satellite to Luna. Their first lunar orbiter will be the most extensive mission to investigate the moon since the US Apollo program about 4 years ago.
The US$279 million satellite, called the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), will survey the Moon’s mineralogy, topology and gravity gradients.
Sensors onboard this gadget include: X-Ray spectrometer, Terrain Camera, Radar Sounder, Laser Altimeter, Magnetometer, Charged Particle Spectrometer and High Def TV cameras.
Follow the status of the project and learn more on the Selene english site which is part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
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[...] 2 weeks ago Japan launched SELENE. Today it reached orbit to begin collecting data in the largest lunar project since Apollo. [...]