Science Objectives and Initial Operations of SELENE (Kaguya) Mission

Abstract

The Japanese lunar mission SELENE (Kaguya) was successfully launched by the H2A No.13 rocket on September 14, 2007. After being inserted into a nominal orbit at an altitude of 100 km for remote sensing on October 19, 2007, a sounder antenna, magnetometer boom, and plasmasphere cameras were deployed before the testing of scientific instruments. Acquisition of scienctific data was carried out for ten months after the nominal mission period that began from the middle of December, 2007. Scientific objectives and perspectives along with the status of the initial operations of Kaguya are described in this paper.