Lunar Investigations
The Moon is the 8th continent of the Earth. The Moon preserves important information on the state of the solar system in the past. It can be said that the Moon is a treasury of solar system fossils. The Moon is the celestial body nearest to the Earth. The Earth, however, has an atmosphere and oceans, and is full of life. The Moon, however, is a “dead” planet covered with craters, its own internal activity finished. Why have these differences emerged? The quest for the Moon's origin and evolution is essential in terms of understanding the Earth.
ISAS had two major solar system exploration projects under development for 1997-1998 launches: Lunar-A and Planet-B. Both spacecraft would take advantage of the new, greater capacity M-5 launch vehicle to be introduced in 1996 or 1997. The Lunar-A mission profile envisioned both a mapping lunar orbiter and small penetrators for seismic and thermal studies of the Moon. The orbiter would deploy three probes to the Moon over a one month period in 1998 after launch in 1997. The 0.12 m diameter by 0.80 m instrumented spikes will impact the lunar surface (two on the nearside and one on the farside) at about 300 m/s and will return heat loss information and seismic data on moonquakes in an attempt to determine the core state of the Moon, which has puzzled researchers for decades.
The 2.2 m diameter by 2 m high, 500-kg orbiter would then assume a low altitude lunar mapping and data relay orbit, probably with a CCD camera. Imagery detail may be about 20 m. The data from both studies should aid in mission definition and planning for future manned lunar visits and/or bases. Lunar A will draw on the experience in lunar transfer orbits and subsatellite deployment gained with the Hiten/Hagomoro mission (References 138-142).
The much-delayed LUNAR-A was the first Japanese lunar exploration mission, eventually planned to be launched in 2004. Its mission plan was to explore the internal structure of the Moon by two penetrators (spear-type instruments) to form an observation network of seismometers and thermal flowmeters. The development of the penetrators, however, took a great deal of time, even though the technology was almost complete. The fact that the electronic components used on the mothership to carry the penetrators were obsolete and adhesives hardened were also problems. Thus the government cancelled the LUNAR-A project in early 2007.
The first mission of the Japanese Lunar Exploration Program kicked off in 2007. The country launched the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE, better known in Japan as Kaguya, after the legendary Japanese moon princess), the mission allowed scientists to explore the Moon`s surface in closer detail. Kaguya completed the planned operation in October, 2008.
Japan announced in April 2015 that it was getting ready to launch its first unmanned mission to the Moon in 2018, which would make it the fourth nation to land on Earth’s satellite and help pave the way for manned missions in the future. The news was reported by the country`s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to a council of the cabinet office and the ministry of education, culture, sports science and technology on Monday, but further details are only expected to appear later in summer.
“This is an initial step and a lot of procedures are still ahead before the plan is formally approved," said the JAXA official. It was earlier reported that JAXA had briefed the state panel in order to secure the budget for the project that aims to attempt the first lunar landing in 2018. Japan plans to use the SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) probe that will be carried by the homemade Eplison rocket. Sources close to the agency says the project is expected to cost from $8 billion to $12.5 billion and JAXA will request the budget for the program during the next fiscal year.
The mission’s main target is to collect data and technology that would make it possible to conduct soft landings with a high level of accuracy. Officials say this knowledge could later be used in the preparations for a manned mission to Mars in the future. If JAXA’s plans are successful, Japan will be the fourth country to send an unmanned probe to the moon after Russia, the United States and China.
In 2013 a Chinese probe made the world’s first soft landing on the moon in nearly 40 years. It had to travel to the Moon, fly around it and head back to Earth, and the mission was launched to test the technology that would be used in China`s next lunar probe that is expected in 2017.
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