(JAXA) has confirmed the sucessful deployment of the high-gain antenna of the lunar explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE). Telemetry data was received at 6:52 p.m. on September 14, 2007 (JST) The high-gain antenna plays a key role in communications between the satellite and the Earth. They also acquired image data taken by the KAGUYA onboard camera at 10:53 p.m. (JST.)
The satellite is currently in good health.
An image of the high-gain antenna deployment taken by the onboard camera is attached below.
The right side is the SOL-BC (part of the X-ray spectrometer.) Credit JAXA
(JAXA) also confirmed the deployment of the solar array paddle at 11:44 a.m. on September 14 (Japan Standard Time, JST) through signals and power generation data from the satellite. They acquired an image of the paddle deployment at 11:13 p.m. on the same day (JST).
Solar array paddle deployment acquired image Credit JAXA
It launches from the start of launch preparation job, to completion of preparation
Start of countdown
Launch stage
From completion of launch preparation to satellite separation after the Moon transfer orbit throwing
Lift off Nose fairing open 2nd stage separation Lunar transitional Orbit insertion
Early stage
Critical phase
Lunar transitional Orbit phase
From satellite separation to Lunar polar orbit insertion (After approximately 1 hours)
Separation from H-IIA Solar Array Paddle Deployment High-Gain Antenna Deployment Injection Error Correction Maneuver Adjustment Maneuver of Revolution Period LOI Conditions Adjusting Maneuver
Lunar polar Orbit phase
From Lunar polar orbit insertion to observation (After approximately 45 days)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Lunar Orbit Explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE) by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 13 (H-IIA F13) at 10:31:01 a.m. on September 14, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima Space Centre. The launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 45 minutes and 34 seconds after liftoff, the separation of the KAGUYA was confirmed. At the time of the launch, the weather was clear, a wind speed was 5.9 m/second from the East South East, and the temperature was 29.8 degrees Celsius.
A GIANT radio telescope in Tasmania will play a key role in a space mission billed as the biggest since the Apollo program. Japan launched its first lunar orbiter today on the mission to investigate the moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency H-IIA rocket will try to solve the mystery of how the moon originated and evolved. And the University of Tasmania's 26m Mt Pleasant radio telescope, southeast of Hobart, will play a key part in one mission experiment called VRAD. It will use an array of radio telescopes on Earth to accurately track the position of the spacecraft and use the information to make the most accurate measurements of the lunar gravitational field.
Japan on Friday successfully launched a lunar explorer into orbit on a mission dubbed the first full-scale exploration of the moon since the U.S. Apollo program. The H2A rocket carrying the moon explorer Kaguya lifted off at 10:31 a.m. from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. About 45 minutes later, the rocket, the H2A Launch Vehicle No. 13, entered its elliptical orbit that circles the Earth at an altitude of between 280 and 233,000 kilometres.