Japanese Kaguya seen crashing into Moon

William Atkins
Monday, 15 June 2009 18:57

Science - Space

AT 3:25 a.m. Japanese time (1825 GMT) the Kaguya spacecraft made a controlled hard crash onto the Moon ending a successful mission to comprehensively map the lunar surface. It was seen on Earth by professional and amateur astronomers.


Shinichi Sobue, spokesperson for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), stated on June 10, 2009, that: “The mission was a success. Thanks to Kaguya, we will have a very detailed map of the lunar surface.” [SignOnSanDiego/Associated Press: “Japan's first lunar probe ends mission”]

Sobue added, "With data from Kaguya, we hope to shed light on the evolution of the moon."

The first probe to the Moon, Kaguya (also called SELENE) by the Japanese also released two probes that orbited the Moon. One of them landed on the lunar surface in February 2009, while the other one is still in orbit.

The October 11, 2007 iTWire article “First photo shoot of Moon by Japanese Selene spacecraft” provides information on Rstar, one of the probes released by Kaguya.

The mission produced, among other things, a successful comprehensive topographical map of the Moon, a far-side gravitational map, and the first optical observation of the inside of Shackleton crater.

Japanese scientists are now pouring over its data, and will publish the results of the lunar mission in November 2009.

Page two provides sources for images of the lunar impact.