Where is Kaguya now?
I have no idea -- beyond somewhere in the neighborhood of Earth.
The flightplan called for, I think, 2-1/2 loops around Earth before departure to the moon. Over 19 days from launch it would reach an orbit around the moon, finalizing to a circular orbit over 18 more days, 37 total. I just never saw a timeline on the flightplan.
Anyone know where it is in the process now? Has it finished the 2-1/2 loops? They were wide loops, I think, so it could take a bit. It might be in a geocentric parking orbit (
Wikipedia SELENE), and lasting days. Or maybe it's not parked, but just in the environs of geocentric, and already on a looping path to breaking free. When will it bid adieu to Earth -- fire its engine? -- and start cruising toward a lunar encounter?
News sources and the mission pages are failing me. Has anyone seen a timeline?
The
mission profile presents the sequence of phases and events, but no times. I believe it's somewhere in the multi-day lunar transitional orbit phase; it has separated fom H-IIA, and certainly far from lunar polar orbit insertion.