Japan launched the spacecraft to the moon

On September 13, Japan launched the largest spacecraft since the end of the Apollo mission to attack the moon

A Japanese spacecraft that is set to be the largest spacecraft to attack the moon since the Apollo era blasted off into space on Friday on an ambitious mission to explore the origins of Earth's planetary neighbor. The spaceship, named Kaguya (according to the Japanese tradition, they only give the name after the launch is successful) that is interviewing at 01:31 GMT on Friday, morning hours in Japan. The spacecraft is scheduled to circle the Earth twice before starting a five-day journey to the moon, Japan's JAXA space agency said. The spacecraft, which until now was called Selen, short for SELenological and ENgineering, and which was given the new name, carries 14 scientific instruments and two small microsatellites.

The equipment is designed for detailed mapping of the surface of the moon, to explore the interior of the moon and to study the lunar gravitational field. "All the data that will be collected by Kagoya will provide us with new scientific knowledge for studies about the origin and development of the moon" said the director of the Selen project in JAXA, Yoshida Takizawa, on the agency's website. Kaguya is named after Kaguya the Sea, the well-known moon prince in Japanese folklore, and it carries names and messages from humans on Earth as part of the "Wish Upon the Moon" operation announced by the agency.

The spacecraft is also equipped with a high-resolution camera designed to record still images and video of Earth as it shines for the spacecraft behind the lunar surface. This is possible because the spacecraft is not in one place but is constantly circling the moon, and therefore the earth moves relative to it in the sky. "The moon is one of the favorite bodies of the Japanese," said Shinichi Sobo, the coordinator of the scientists and spokesperson for the project, to the website Space.com. "I believe that the Japanese people look forward to the success of the operation and especially to see the earth shining above the moon." The cost of the operation to the Japanese taxpayer is approximately 480 million dollars, and it is planned to continue for about a year, Sobo said.

The launch of the mission was made possible after eight years of development and a series of delays, the last of which was the incorrect installation of A condenser, an optical device for concentrating light rays; a device for turning a gaseous substance into a liquid) on one of the small satellites accompanying Kaguya. Bad weather at the launch site prevented a planned launch for Wednesday. Kaguya is not Japan's first spacecraft to the moon, but it is the most ambitious. In 1990, Japan launched the Hiten spacecraft, which passed by the moon several times, launched a small satellite called Hagamordo from it, and began orbiting the moon. The spacecraft crashed on the lunar surface in 1993 . Kagoya is the first spacecraft in a fleet of spacecraft to be launched by various countries in the next two years - China's Shenzhe 1 spacecraft is scheduled for launch later in 2007 and NASA's LRO spacecraft and India's Chandrayaan 1 are scheduled for launch in 2008.

For information on Space.com