Kaguya: Japan's lunar orbiter - Page 3

01101001 · #61 (**permalink**) 01-October-2007, 10:19 PM

Planetary Society Weblog: Kaguya shoots Earth video

Quote:

The image [in the column] is just a still, but it is apparently a part of real, moving, HD video of Earth; the JAXA site says it was taken in a mode such that time is sped up by a factor of eight.
These high-definition images of a moving Earth rotating in the blackness of space could be powerful ones for Earth advocacy, I think; I hope JAXA makes them publicly available! I can't wait to see what kinds of HD movies may appear of Earth and Moon in mutual motion.

JAXA press release: Lunar Explorer KAGUYA (SELENE) Successful Image Taking by the High Definition Television (HDTV)

High-res version (700 kilobytes)

===

Useful Kaguya Links

ISAS SELENE Mission
JAXA SELenological and ENgineering Explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE) Project
JAXA Launch of KAGUYA/H-IIAF13 Special Site
JAXA: Kaguya Topics (updates)
Planetary Society :: Projects :: International Lunar Decade
Planetary Society :: Space Topics :: Kaguya
Wikipedia: SELENE (Kaguya)

KaiYeves · #62 (**permalink**) 02-October-2007, 01:21 AM

Preeeeeety Earth.

01101001 · #63 (**permalink**) 02-October-2007, 10:01 PM

Lunar Orbit Insertion, LOI, in 24 hours -- if Planetary Society published schedule (in Kaguya Rockets Toward the Moon) is adhered to, and I saw earlier discrepancies. Come to think of it, results of the midway adjustment maneuver, due September 30, weren't announced, so I'm somewhat dubious of how well that schedule fits reality. Still, it's a good time to think happy thoughts. There's no reason to tune in, nothing to tune in to. It's not like JAXA has live coverage of these events anyway; they are usually announced after the fact.

(Possible) LOI burn:

October 3, 1401 PDT
October 3, 1701 EDT
October 3, 2101 UTC
October 4, 0601 JST

So far Kaguya's main engine has worked well in several orbit adjustment maneuvers. I suppose the lunar orbit insertion burn will be a bit longer, but just as successful.

Well, perhaps some time tomorrow we'll hear good news.

01101001 · #64 (**permalink**) 03-October-2007, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

(Possible) LOI burn:

October 4, 0601 JST.

Close.

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Lunar Orbit Injection Maneuver (LOI1), October 4 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics)

Quote:

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

That would make LOI 2 hours and 5 minutes from now.

October 3, 1355 PDT
October 3, 1655 EDT
October 3, 2055 UTC
October 4, 0555 JST

Quote:

We plan to announce the result of the LOI1 around 9:00 a.m. on October 5 (JST)

Aha. They didn't need to do the correction on September 30. They just made the Earth movie that day.

Coming up, after some more burns to refine the orbit, Kaguya starts having babies:

October 09 (JST): Relay Satellite Separation
October 15 (JST): VRAD Satellite Separation

01101001 · #65 (**permalink**) 05-October-2007, 01:49 AM

Kaguya has officially become a lunar orbiter.

The confirmation of a lunar orbit for Kaguya is up on the Japanese language JAXA site (press release in Japanese)

Orbit: Apogee 11,741km, Perigee 101km
Period: 16 hours 42 minutes

Edit: Press release in English

Quote:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed the lunar orbit injection maneuver (LOI1) for the "KAGUYA" (SELENE) at 6:20 a.m. on October 4, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST.) [...] As a result of the orbit calculation after the maneuver, we have confirmed that the KAGUYA was injected into the following lunar orbit. The satellite is confirmed to be in good health.

We are now pleased to be able to report to you that we have safely delivered messages and signs that were collected from 412,627 people around the world through the Wish upon the Moon Campaign and engraved on the sheets to be aboard the KAGUYA to the Moon.

JeDi · #66 (**permalink**) 06-October-2007, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Kaguya has officially become a lunar orbiter.
[…]
Orbit: Apogee 11,741km, Perigee 101km

Kaguya coming home? I think you mean Periselene/Aposelene, Perilune/Apolune, Pericynthion/Apocynthion or something like this.

01101001 · #67 (**permalink**) 06-October-2007, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeDi

Kaguya coming home? I think you mean Periselene/Aposelene, Perilune/Apolune, Pericynthion/Apocynthion or something like this.

Sorry. Bad translation, and the character for moon was right there in the phrases: 近月点高度 and 遠月点高度.

In the English version, JAXA used pericynthion/apocynthion.

I should have used perimoon/apomoon! They sound like an exotic fruit dessert.

KaiYeves · #68 (**permalink**) 06-October-2007, 06:17 PM

Quote:

They sound like an exotic fruit dessert.

I think Kabbala kind of does, too.

01101001 · #69 (**permalink**) 07-October-2007, 07:06 AM

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Result of the Lunar Orbit Adjustment Maneuver (LOI2), October 7 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics)

Quote:

Apocynthion altitude 5,694 km
Pericynthion altitude 108 km
Period 7 hours 53 minutes

01101001 · #70 (**permalink**) 08-October-2007, 05:09 AM

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Result of the Lunar Orbit Adjustment Maneuver (LOI3), October 8 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics)

Quote:

Apocynthion altitude 2,399 km
Pericynthion altitude 115 km
Period 4 hours 5 minutes

These burns come so fast now that the orbit period is fairly small, and getting smaller.

According to the Planetary Society Weblog entry (Oct. 4), major upcoming events are:

Relay Satellite Release: October 9, 00:46:01 JST [Oct 8, 15:46:01 UTC; 11:46:01 EDT; 08:46:01 PDT]
VRAD Satellite Release: October 14, 05:37:01 JST [Oct 13, 20:37:01 UTC; 16:37:01 EDT; 13:37:01 PDT]
Science observations begin: October 21, 10:27:01 JST [01:27:01 UTC; Oct 20, 21:27:01 EDT; 18:27:01 PDT]

About 11-1/2 hours to Relay Satellite release.

Tucson_Tim · #71 (**permalink**) 08-October-2007, 04:01 PM

From wikipedia:

Quote:

Terrain Camera (TC) - resolution 10 meters per pixel

Too bad the on-board camera doesn't have the resolution to detect the Apollo hardware that was left behind, assuming the orbit would allow such pictures to be taken.

01101001 · #72 (**permalink**) 08-October-2007, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Relay Satellite Release: October 9, 00:46:01 JST [Oct 8, 15:46:01 UTC; 11:46:01 EDT; 08:46:01 PDT]

That would be now. One becomes two.

Relay satellite (RStar or RSAT) elliptical orbit is aimed for about 100 km x 2400 km.

Kaguya (SELENE) :: Four way Doppler measurements by Relay satellite and Main Orbiter transponder, Differential VLBI Radio Source (RSAT,VRAD)

RSAT Image

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tucson_Tim

Too bad the on-board camera doesn't have the resolution to detect the Apollo hardware that was left behind, assuming the orbit would allow such pictures to be taken.

Yep, not enough resolution. It will sweep the sites, anyway, with its polar orbit and push-broom imaging, fore and aft.

Description of module containing Terrain Camera(s): Kaguya (SELENE) :: LISM [Terrain Camera(TC), Multi band Imager(MI), Spectral Profiler(SP)]

Technical mumbo-jumbo: Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVII :: PLANNED DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL PRODUCTS FROM SELENE TERRAIN CAMERA DATA (PDF)

ToSeek · #73 (**permalink**) 09-October-2007, 04:51 PM

Kaguya: First of two mini-satellites successfully deployed

Quote:

I'm taking a coffee break from sessions at DPS and just came across the news that Kaguya, the Japanese lunar orbiter also known as SELENE, has just successfully released the first of two mini-satellites. Even cooler, their onboard camera recorded the separation:

Kullat Nunu · #74 (**permalink**) 09-October-2007, 08:23 PM

Japan Moon Probe Births 'Baby' Satellite, Snaps First Photos

01101001 · #75 (**permalink**) 11-October-2007, 03:14 AM

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Result of the Lunar Orbit Adjustment Maneuver (LOI4), October 11 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics)

Quote:

Apocynthion altitude 795 km
Pericynthion altitude 127 km
Period 2 hours 34 minutes

Coming up:
VLBI Radio source (VRAD or VStar) satellite separation, October 12 JST (was October 14 at Planetary Society). Let's call it a gross estimate.

Elliptical orbit will be aimed for 100 km x 800 km.

01101001 · #76 (**permalink**) 12-October-2007, 04:32 AM

Two become three.

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Separation of the VRAD Satellite (Vstar), October 12 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics)

Quote:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to start release operations of its baby satellite, the VRAD (Very Long Baseline Interferometer) satellite (Vstar), of the "KAGUYA" (SELENE) at around 1:28 p.m. on October 12, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST.)

October 11 2128 PDT
October 12 0028 EDT
October 12 0428 UTC
October 12 1328 JST

Release in approximately 1 hour.

01101001 · #77 (**permalink**) 12-October-2007, 04:52 PM

Another successful separation.

I'd like to introduce Okina and Ouna.

JAXA press release: KAGUYA (SELENE) Result of the Separation of the VRAD Satellite (Vstar), October 12:

Quote:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed the separation operation of one of the onboard baby satellites, the VRAD (Very Long Baseline Interferometer) Satellite* of the "KAGUYA" (SELENE.) The VRAD satellite was released at 1:28 p.m. on October 12, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST). The KAGUYA is a lunar explorer that was launched by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 13 (H-IIA F13) on September 14, 2007, (JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center. Both the KAGUYA and VRAD satellite are confirmed to be in good health.

Images there.

Okina is the new nickname of the Relay Satellite, RStar, RSAT: Honorable Old Man.

Ouna is the new nickname of the VLBI Satellite, VStar, VRAD: Honorable Old Woman.

In the Japanese fairy tale, Princess Kaguya was found and raised by an okina and an ouna.

01101001 · #78 (**permalink**) 16-October-2007, 03:13 AM

Photo Collections of Launch of H-IIA Launch Vehicle F13 (via Kaguya Topics)
is a gallery of about 15 pictures of the launch of Kaguya, like this sample:

01101001 · #79 (**permalink**) 19-October-2007, 05:13 AM

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Result of the Lunar Orbit Adjustment Maneuvers (LOI 5 and 6), October 19 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics)

Round round get around / I get around / Yeah / Get around round round I get around / I get around... --Beach Boys

Quote:

Apocynthion altitude 123 km
Pericynthion altitude 80 km
Period 1 hours 58 minutes

Coming up, perhaps some HDTV images:

Planetary Society Weblog: Kaguya: both mini-satellites deployed and renamed (October 12)

Quote:

"nao" [a helpful person named "nao" from the JSpace website] also told me that the first HDTV images of the Moon will be returned no earlier than the 19th, but not necessarily on the 19th.

01101001 · #80 (**permalink**) 21-October-2007, 05:31 PM

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Completion of the Critical Phase, October 21 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics)

Quote:

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.
[...]
We completed the KAGUYA’s critical phase and are now moving to the initial functional verification phase.

During the verification phase, we will check out onboard equipment in the current lunar orbit until mid December, then start regular observations.

Edit: Planetary Society Weblog: Kaguya now in science orbit

Quote:

There was a press conference on the same day, and, as usual, it was blogged by Shin-Ya Matsuura in Japanese and then translated quickly into English by volunteers at Jspace. Matsuura noted that the conference began with "the casual opening remark by Public Affairs Department 'these days we've been holding joyful press conferences with smiles.'" This joy is, of course, in contrast to the types of emotions that tend to accompany Hayabusa-related press conferences, which must be a mixture of sadness, frustration, and determination. It's about time JAXA got to hold "joyful" press conferences about planetary missions.

01101001 · #81 (**permalink**) 02-November-2007, 02:26 AM

Update: KAGUYA (SELENE) Status of Deployment/Extension of Onboard Mission Equipment, October 31 (PDF) (via Kaguya Topics List)

Quote:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) carried out the following deployment operations on the onboard mission equipment of the “KAGUYA” (SELENE) between October 28 and 31, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST.) The KAGUYA is a lunar explorer launched from the Tanegashima Space Center. The satellite is in good health.
- Lunar magnetometer (LMAG)
- Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS)
- Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Imager (UPI)

Includes a few cool pictures of deployed instruments, associated masts, or parts thereof, with moon in background.

01101001 · #82 (**permalink**) 07-November-2007, 08:06 PM

Provided by JAXA/NHK

Kaguya Topics List

Quote:

KAGUYA successfully takes images of the moon using HDTV camera!
The “KAGUYA,” which is currently undergoing initial functional verification, successfully acquired image data using its onboard high definition TV camera (HDTV).
It is the world’s first image taken by the HDTV from 100 km away from the Moon.

Kaguya moon movie

Sweet.

Planetary Society Weblog: First HD movies from the Moon

Quote:

JAXA just released a movie (actually, two separate movies) shot from the Kaguya orbiter as it cruised 100 kilometers over the Moon from the south to the north. Little lumps on the horizon resolve into the dish shapes of craters that expand as they approach the viewer, then disappear underneath. The first sequence shows a mare area, the west edge of Oceanus Procellarum, lit high by the Sun, emphasizing the brightness differences between dark mare material and bright highlands material. The second sequence shows much rougher terrain near the north pole, lit at a lower angle that brings out dramatic shadows. And at the end, Kaguya crosses the terminator to the dark side of the Moon, its night side.

Edit: JAXA press release is now up. It provides details of movies, including diagrams and maps of the covered territory and a few still images.

Quote:

The image taking was performed twice on October 31. Both were eight-fold speed intermittent shooting (eight minutes is converged to one minute.) The first shooting covered from the northern area of the "Oceanus Procellarum" toward the center of the North Pole, then the second one was from the south to the north on the western side of the "Oceanus Procellarum." The moving image data acquired by the KAGUYA was received at the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center, and processed by NHK.

Larry Jacks · #83 (**permalink**) 07-November-2007, 11:04 PM

That HDTV video is spectacular. I wouldn't have thought to include that type of camera on the mission due to the bandwidth requirements (it takes 20 minutes to transmit about 1 minute of video back to the Earth) but the results are amazing.

sts60 · #84 (**permalink**) 08-November-2007, 02:26 PM

I find the effect to be visceral. Kind of like the video of the California wildfires from the ISS rolling overhead. Such applications are ideal for such video, when you have the bandwidth.

This contrasts to the guy we had over on apollohoax who insisted the Mars missions were fakes because, among other things, NASA hadn't filmed 30fps video during the cruise to Mars. Yeah, that would be fascinating. Look, a pale red dot! Two weeks later - look, an imperceptibly larger pale red dot!

01101001 · #85 (**permalink**) 08-November-2007, 04:42 PM

It's like the JAXA servers are being hammered hard. I went for another view and it's taken 10 minutes so far. It's trickling in. It might have gotten from Moon to Earth faster than it's going from JAXA to me.

They're going to have to beef up their distribution if they offer up more cool stuff like this.

KaiYeves · #86 (**permalink**) 09-November-2007, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Look, a pale red dot! Two weeks later - look, an imperceptibly larger pale red dot!

Well, that would make up for the fact that Mars was too small to appear in Voyager's last shootout.

01101001 · #87 (**permalink**) 13-November-2007, 07:43 PM

Kaguya Topics List

Quote:

November 13, 2007 Updated

'Earth-rise' and 'Earth-set' images were taken by the KAGUYA
The onboard high definition camera of the moon explorer "KAGUYA," which is under initial functional verification, successfully acquired the world’s first high definition images of an "Earth-rise" and "Earth-set." It was also the world’s first HD images of the Earth from about 380,000 km away in space.

(Don't miss the link to the movie there.)

JAXA Press Release: KAGUYA (SELENE) Image Taking of Earth-Rise by HDTV

Cool!

Provided by JAXA/NHK

Edit: More coverage at: Planetary Society Weblog: Earthrise and Earthset from Kaguya

Quote:

Kaguya has delivered on its promise to send high-definition movies from the Moon, and it was worth the wait. This morning JAXA and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) released several still images and a movie showing an Earthrise and an Earthset over the lunar limb captured by Kaguya on November 7. The images bring to mind the Apollo 8 and 11 Earthrise photos, but, unlike the Apollo images, the Kaguya ones feature a nearly fully lit Earth. Not to mention the fact that the Kaguya images are parts of actual movies! As someone who was too young to witness the Apollo missions and their live TV coverage, these are my first movies from the Moon.

Edit: More: BA Blog: Earthrise, Earthset

Quote:

See how dark the Moon looks? That’s real: the Moon is, on average, about 1/2 to 1/4 as reflective as the Earth is, so the Earth looks bright while the Moon looks dark. For an even more striking example of this, check out the lunar dust on Buzz Aldrin’s knees in the famous Man on the Moon picture. The surface looks bright, but the dust is charcoal gray.

Quote:

North American EXCLUSIVE: First HD footage from the Moon
Wednesday, November 14, 8 pm ET on Discovery HD
http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows....aspx?sid=5180

Edit: The JAXA server is probably too busy to use now hours later. Be patient. See the low-resolution YouTube version while you wait.

01101001 · #88 (**permalink**) 16-November-2007, 10:09 PM

JAXA Press Release: KAGUYA (SELENE) Observation by Terrain Camera (TC) and Multi-band Imager (MI), November 16
(via Kaguya (SELENE) New Communications)

First Terrain Camera images. Stereo. Mmm. Compares images with similar by Clementine. Nice resolution.

First Multi-band Imager images. Nice false color indicating I know not what, but I'm sure it's full of mineralogy information.

01101001 · #89 (**permalink**) 28-November-2007, 07:31 AM

Kaguya Topics List

Quote:

Terrain Camera provides unique 3D images of Moon

JAXA has made detailed images of the Moon’s surface using observation data acquired by the Terrain Camera (TC) onboard the KAGUYA. In a global first, JAXA composed three-dimensional images and a moving image with a very high aerial resolution of 10 meters. The images include the Polar areas on the Moon.
You can observe small bumps, mounds and craters on the Moon’s surface in a three-dimensional manner that had been invisible to date.

Kaguya movie: 3D fly-around Dyson Crater (Edit: Google Moon for context. Movie crater is on SSE rim of Dyson.)

Yummy. But, how long before some woo-woo notices the photographed grid pattern on the surface of the moon and asks which space-alien intelligence created the obvious artifact? (Edit: Example grid image)

Edit: Update: Press release: KAGUYA (SELENE) Composition of 3-D Movies with Terrain Camera Images (November 28)

01101001 · #90 (**permalink**) 09-December-2007, 10:03 PM

Kaguya SELENE project pages

Quote:

Dec 05, 2007
"KAGUYA Image Gallery" open!

It's not working for me right now.

Edit, 5 hours later: site still doesn't work. Google had a cached version, so it worked at some point. Cached version wasn't coughing up any pictures, though. The site requires Flash.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Lunar He3 mining: A quick look at the numbers.	TinFoilHat	Astronomy	39	21-January-2007 03:54 AM
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter	Bob B.	Conspiracy Theories	13	22-February-2005 02:36 AM
Moon Rocks - List of Investigators, July 1969	Kiwi	Conspiracy Theories	18	02-February-2005 12:36 PM
Target Moon: World Space Agencies Detail Lunar Plans	Jambaman	Astronomy	1	13-December-2003 09:58 PM