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H-IIA 2022 | Kaguya

Kaguya

Launch Successful

Launch Details

Date: 14 Sept 2007, 01:31 am UTC

Rocket: H-IIA (H-II)

Provider: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Mission

Type: Lunar Exploration

Orbit: Lunar Orbit

Pad: Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-1, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

Mission Description

Kaguya, also known as SELENE, was the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft. Kaguya usede a suite of 15 instruments to gather scientific data on lunar origins and evolution. The main orbiter was accompanied by two smaller satellites: a relay satellite Okina and a satellite Ouna for Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations. Kaguya orbited the Moon for a year and eight months and then ended the mission via a planned impact on the lunar surface.