* Astronomy

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RE: SELENE mission

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Earth-set image shot by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA
This still image was cut out from a moving image (teleshot) taken by the HDTV onboard the KAGUYA at 12:07 p.m. on November 7, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST,) then sent to the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Centre.
In the image, the Moon's surface is near the South Pole, and we can see the Australian Continent (centre left) and the Asian Continent (lower right) on the Earth. (In this image, the upper side of the Earth is the Southern Hemisphere, thus the Australian Continent looks upside-down.)
Credit JAXA

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Moonscape HDTV image

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Image of the Moon taken from a high definition movie taken by the KAGUYA orbiter as it flew towards the North Pole region from Oceanus Procellarum. The image was taken at 4:07 AM on 31 October 2007 (JST) at an altitude of about 100 km.
Telemetry data was received at the Usuda station.

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Credit JAXA

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) injected the KAGUYA main satellite in its scheduled orbit and shifted its operation mode to the regular control mode. Both the KAGUYA main satellite and its two baby satellites are in good health.
JAXA completed the KAGUYAs critical phase and are now moving to the initial functional verification phase.
During the verification phase, JAXA will check out onboard equipment in the current lunar orbit until mid December, then start regular observations.

Source JAXA

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed a separation operation on one of the onboard baby satellites, the VRAD (Very Long Baseline Interferometer) Satellite, that is equipped with a radiowave source for observing the gravity field of the Moon.
The VRAD satellite was released at 1:28 p.m. on October 12, 2007 (Japan Standard Time).

Images of the separation of the VRAD satellite taken by the KAGUYA onboard camera are shown in Attachment.
The other baby satellite, the Relay satellite, and the VRAD satellite are respectively nicknamed "OKINA" meaning an "honourable elderly man" and "OUNA" meaning an "honourable elderly woman."

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Credit JAXA

"OKINA" and "OUNA" were selected from nominations proposed by the people related to the SELENE project. The names stem from the Japanese classic story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori Monogatari,) which most Japanese are very familiar with, as the "KAGUYA" originates from "Kaguya-hime (Princess Kaguya)" in that tale. Princess Kaguya was found by an old man ("OKINA") in a bamboo forest and was brought up by the man and his wife ("OUNA").
The Relay and VRAD satellites are in a higher orbit than the main satellite, KAGUYA, as if they are watching over the KAGUYA as its guardians. Therefore, JAXA selected "OKINA" and "OUNA" as their nicknames.

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed the separation operation of one of the onboard baby satellites, the Relay Satellite (Rstar,) of the "KAGUYA" (SELENE,).
The Rstar was released at 9:36 a.m. on October 9 (Japan Standard Time).
Both the KAGUYA and Rstar are confirmed to be in good health.
Images of the separation of the Rstar taken by the KAGUYA onboard camera are shown in Attachment 1.
In addition, Moon images taken by one of the KAGUYA's onboard cameras, the high-gain antenna monitor camera, are also available in Attachment 2.

Attachment 1

Attachment 2

The KAGUYA will further lower the altitude of its apocynthion to separate the other babysatellite, the VRAD satellite.

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed the lunar orbit injection manoeuvre (LOI1) for the "KAGUYA" (SELENE) at 6:20 a.m. on October 4, 2007 (Japan Standard Time).
JAXA have confirmed that the KAGUYA was injected into the following lunar orbit:

Injected orbit
               Apogee altitude             11,741 km
               Perigee altitude               101 km
               Period            16 hours 42 minutes

The satellite was confirmed to be in good health.

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, has placed the Selenological and Engineering Explorer - or SELENE satellite in orbit around the moon for the first time.
The mission involves placing the main satellite in orbit at an altitude of about 60 miles and deploying two smaller satellites in polar orbits.

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to carry out a lunar orbit injection manoeuvre (LOI1) for the "KAGUYA" (SELENE) from around 5:55 a.m. on October 4, 2007 (Japan Standard Time)