#Selenological and Engineering Explorer

[thepastisalreadywritten]

On 5 April 2008, the Japanese spacecraft Kaguya captured this full Earth-rise over the Moon limb in high resolution.

📹: JAXA

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SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer), better known in Japan by its nickname Kaguya, was the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft following the Hiten probe.

Produced by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), the spacecraft was launched on 14 September 2007.

After successfully orbiting the Moon for a year and eight months, the main orbiter was instructed to impact on the lunar surface near the crater Gill on 10 June 2009.

[foxpapa]

Chiamata originariamente SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer), la missione giapponese Kaguya, rappresentata in questa illustrazione, è stata la seconda dotata di orbiter lunare eseguita con successo dal Sol Levante

Illustrazione di Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

[menerjangbosan]

Wah ternyata Badan Antartika Jepang diberi nama Kaguya mirip cerita film Naruto loh

Wah ternyata Badan Antartika Jepang diberi nama Kaguya mirip cerita film Naruto loh

Kaguya (かぐや) Satelit buatan manusia. Kenapa Nama Kaguya menjadi Wahana antariksa Jepang? Apakah Kaguya ini seperti yang diceritakan film Naruto. SELENE (bahasa Yunani) atau Kaguya adalah nama dari wahana antariksa Jepang yang pertama. SELENE adalah singkatan dari Selenological and Engineering Explorer. Dalam mitologi Yunani, Selene adalah dewi bulan. Wahana ini adalah wahana antariksa pertama…

[monterplant]

On This Day in Space: Sept. 13, 2007: Japan launches Kaguya moon mission On Sept. 13, 2007, Japan launched the Kaguya spacecraft on a mission to the moon. Formally known as SELENE, which is short for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer, it was Japan's second moon mission.

[sciencebulletin]

Asteroid shower on the Earth-Moon system 800 million years ago revealed by lunar craters

A research team led by Osaka University investigated the formation ages of 59 lunar craters with a diameter of approximately 20 km using the Terrain Camera (TC) onboard the lunar orbiter spacecraft Kaguya. Kaguya (formerly SELENE, for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer), is a Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) lunar orbiter mission. This group demonstrated that an asteroid of 100 km in diameter was disrupted 800 million years ago (800 Ma) and that at least (4-5) ×1016 kg of meteoroids, approximately 30-60 times more than the Chicxulub impact, must have plunged into the Earth-Moon system. Their research results were published in Nature Communications. Since a thin layer of iridium (Ir) enrichment (a rare earth element) 65.5 Ma had been detected worldwide, it is thought that an asteroid of 10-15 km in diameter hit the Earth and caused or greatly contributed to the Cretaceous mass extinction. The probability of an asteroid of this size striking Earth is thought to be once in 100 million years. It is known that impact craters on Earth created before 600 Ma have been erased over the years by erosion, volcanism, and other geologic processes. Thus, to find out about ancient meteoroid impacts on Earth, they investigated the Moon, which has almost no erosion. They investigated the formation age distribution of 59 large craters with diameters larger than approximately 20 km by examining the density of 0.1-1 km-diameter craters in the ejecta of these 59 craters. Read the full article

[marsjapanlr]

Aerospace

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan's national space agency; it conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and leads development of rockets and satellites. It is a participant in the International Space Station: the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008. The space probe Akatsuki was launched May 20, 2010, and achieved orbit around Venus on December 9, 2015. Japan's plans in space explorationinclude: developing the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter to be launched in 2018; and building a moon base by 2030.

On September 14, 2007, it launched lunar explorer SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) on a H-IIA (Model H2A2022) carrier rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. SELENE is also known as Kaguya, after the lunar princess of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Kaguya is the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program. Its purpose is to gather data on the moon's origin and evolution. It entered a lunar orbit on October 4, flying at an altitude of about 100 km (62 mi). The probe's mission was ended when it was deliberately crashed by JAXA into the Moon on June 11, 2009.

[release-info]

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan’s national space agency; it conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and leads development of rockets and satellites. It is a participant in the International Space Station: the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008.[216] The space probe Akatsuki was launched May 20, 2010, and achieved orbit around Venus on December 9, 2015. Japan’s plans in space exploration include: developing the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter to be launched in 2018;[217] and building a moon base by 2030.[218] On September 14, 2007, it launched lunar explorer SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) on a H-IIA (Model H2A2022) carrier rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. SELENE is also known as Kaguya, after the lunar princess of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.[219] Kaguya is the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program. Its purpose is to gather data on the moon’s origin and evolution. It entered a lunar orbit on October 4,[220][221] flying at an altitude of about 100 km (62 mi).[222] The probe’s mission was ended when it was deliberately crashed by JAXA into the Moon on June 11, 2009.[223] Nobel laureates Main article: List of Japanese Nobel laureates Japan has received the most science Nobel Prizes in Asia and ranked 8th in the world.[224] Hideki Yukawa, educated at Kyoto University, was awarded the prize in physics in 1949. Shin’ichirō Tomonaga followed in 1965. Solid-state physicist Leo Esaki, educated at the University of Tokyo, received the prize in 1973. Kenichi Fukui of Kyoto University shared the 1981 prize in chemistry, and Susumu Tonegawa, also educated at Kyoto University, became Japan’s first laureate in physiology or medicine in 1987. Japanese chemists took prizes in 2000 and 2001: first Hideki Shirakawa (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and then Ryōji Noyori (Kyoto University). In 2002, Masatoshi Koshiba (University of Tokyo) and Koichi Tanaka (Tohoku University) won in physics and chemistry, respectively. Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Masukawa and Yoichiro Nambu, who was an American citizen when awarded, shared the physics prize and Osamu Shimomura also won the chemistry prize in 2008. Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, who is an American citizen when awarded, shared the physics prize in 2014 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi in 2016.[225] #Infrastr#ucture http://bit.ly/2Kqq7in

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Wafting magnetism has transferred oxygen from Earth to the Moon for billions of years

In a new paper in Nature Astronomy, a team from Osaka University publishes its analysis of data gathered by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Selenological and Engineering Explorer, revealing that an isotope present in lunar regolith is a match for an isotope found in terrestrial, atmospheric oxygen.

The authors hypothesize that the Earth's magnetic tail brings charged particles from the Earth to the Moon.

https://boingboing.net/2017/01/31/wafting-magnetism-has-transfer.html

[space-blogs-news]

13 Year Anniversary Of A Milestone

 Exactly 13 years ago, on September 13, 2007, Japan launched the Kaguya Spacecraft. This was Japan’s second ever moon mission, which had the spacecraft SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) shoot into the lunar orbit and take pictures and study the gravitational field of the moon. 

SELENE is also known as Kaguya in a reference to the Japanese myth “The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child”, where a bamboo-cutter finds a child who is actually from the Moon and raises her. Given the mission the spacecraft was to carry out, the connection to this story is very apparent. Unfortunately, the Kaguya Spacecraft crashed onto the lunar surface after only one year. 

Read More:

https://www.space.com/39251-on-this-day-in-space.html

[componentplanet]

Scientists Might Have Found the Moon’s Missing Metal

Scientists studying the moon have long puzzled over the low metal content of Earth’s satellite. After all, if the moon formed from fragments of Earth, shouldn’t it have similar metal content? NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) might finally have found an explanation for this apparent discrepancy: the metal might be buried deep below the surface. 

No one knows exactly how the moon formed, but most researchers accept the collision hypothesis as the most probable. According to this model, a massive planetoid the size of Mars collided with the primordial Earth several billion years ago. The impact blasted large portions of Earth’s crust into space, which would have formed a ring that slowly coalesced into the moon we know today. 

The catch is that the moon’s chemical composition doesn’t seem to support an origin like that. At least, the part of the moon we can see doesn’t support it. The lunar highlands, visible as light regions on the surface, have lower metal content than Earth. Meanwhile, the darker maria planes have higher metal content, but the two features would have formed at the same time. 

New data from the RO might finally help unravel this mystery thanks to an instrument called the Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF). The Mini-RF measures the dielectric constant, a way to measure the conducting properties of a material compared with the vacuum of space. NASA designed this tool to scan craters for water ice, but it can also detect metals. 

According to the new study, the dielectric constant on the moon increases with crater size. Craters between 1 and 3 miles (2 and 5 kilometers) in diameter showed higher metal content when viewed from the LRO, but the increase tapered off around 3-12 miles. The team speculated that the first few hundred meters of the surface were low in metal oxides, but the concentration was higher below that. 

To confirm the speculation, the researchers compared their results to existing metal oxide maps of the moon from missions like Japan’s Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) and NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft. Sure enough, the data showed larger craters have higher concentrations of metal. This data may also have some relevance to NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), which showed that there’s a lot of dense material deep below the moon’s surface. 

The team is not calling this one solved quite yet. The next step is to conduct similar scans on the moon’s southern hemisphere to see if the craters have similar geology. 

Now read:

NASA Posts Stunning 4K Tour of the Moon

The Moon May Still Be Geologically Active

The Formation of the Moon May Have Stretched the Earth Into a Potato

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/312396-scientists-might-have-found-the-moons-missing-metal from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/07/scientists-might-have-found-moons.html

[sciencespies]

Gorgeous New Map of the Moon Is Most Detailed to Date

https://sciencespies.com/news/gorgeous-new-map-of-the-moon-is-most-detailed-to-date/

Gorgeous New Map of the Moon Is Most Detailed to Date

Even at its closest approach, the moon doesn’t come within 220,000 miles of Earth. But thanks to a stunning new map created by scientists at the United States Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute, the world can still get an intimate look at Earth’s stunning satellite in extraordinary detail.

Called the Unified Geologic Map of the Moon, the map combines Apollo-era data from the 1960s and 1970s with modern satellite observations to yield a dizzying catalog of geological features, including topology and the ages and chemical nature of the rocks that speckle the lunar surface.

“This map is a culmination of a decades-long project,” Corey Fortezzo, USGS geologist and lead author on this work, says in a statement. “It provides vital information for new scientific studies by connecting the exploration of specific sites on the moon with the rest of the lunar surface.”

Scientifically speaking, the map could help guide future crewed missions to the moon, or serve as an interactive tool for students here on Earth. But really, the new rendering is intended for everyone to enjoy—no previous lunar experience necessary.

Each millimeter on the map represents 5 kilometers on the moon—a 1:5,000,000 scale. Its layout is also color-coded, with each hue representing its own type of rock and the era from which it hails, giving viewers a sense of the moon’s storied geologic history. Yellow, for instance, indicates rock from the moon’s (current) Copernican period, which began a billion years ago, Ryan F. Mandelbaum reports for Gizmodo. Reds and purples, on the other hand, denote materials with volcanic or lava flow origins, according to Maria Temming at Science News.

Bolstered with elevation data from JAXA’s SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) mission and topography data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the map is, in a sense, a comprehensive summary of everything scientists have figured out about the moon’s surface so far. It also establishes a new set of terminologies for describing the moon’s rock layers, which have been labeled inconsistently in past works, writes Chelsea Gohd for Space.com.

“Maps like this … help set a common [language] for scientists to understand what we’re talking about,” USGS research geologist James Skinner tells Gizmodo.

WIth the new rendering in hand, scientists will have an easier time identifying hazards on the lunar surface, as well as potential spots where future missions might look to land. Researchers will also be able to download the map and overlay their data, according to Gizmodo.

Intended as a developing resource, the map will continue to be tweaked as lunar research continues. As the researchers write in a conference abstract, this version itself is in fact a revamp that synthesizes and builds upon six 1:5,000,000-scale lunar geologic maps produced in 2013, based on Apollo observations.

If anything, the map’s creation is an incentive for further exploration. “People have always been fascinated by the moon and when we might return,” USGS Director and former NASA astronaut Jim Reilly says in the statement. “So, it’s wonderful to see USGS create a resource that can help NASA with their planning for future missions.”

#News

[gaetaniu]

Sorprese dalla Luna: grotte e un'atmosfera passata

Sorprese dalla Luna: grotte e un’atmosfera passata

A volte per avere delle sorprese basta alzare gli occhi al cielo! Eh sì, alcune recenti e sorprendenti scoperte scientifiche riguardano proprio la Luna, così vicina eppure ancora così misteriosa. La prima scoperta arriva dal Giappone. L’Agenzia spaziale JAXA ha analizzato i dati rilevati dalla sonda Kaguya (o Selene – Selenological and Engineering Explorer) che ha orbitato attorno al nostro…

[amazingstories]

The Floor is made of Lava - The Future of Moonbases

The Floor is made of Lava – The Future of Moonbases

An underground cave on the Moon could serve as a good location for a lunar base, a project that several different groups are trying to get off the ground. In October 2017, Japan’s Selenological and Engineering Explorer probe discovered a massive underground cave on the Moon. The space, which is 100 meters (328 feet) wide and 50 kilometers (31 miles) long, is being touted as a potential location…

[praktoreiomagazine-blog]

Τεύχος 79

Επιστροφή στην εποχή των Σπηλαίων

Του Παύλου Δρακόπουλου

Το ανθρώπινο είδος φιλοδοξεί να κάνει το επόμενο βήμα προς τα εμπρός, επιστρέφοντας στην εποχή των σπηλαίων. Ακούγεται παράδοξο, αλλά το επόμενο βήμα προς τα εμπρός είναι ο εποικισμός της Σελήνης, που μπορεί να γίνει με την δημιουργία βάσης μέσα σε σπήλαιο.

Η άκρη του νήματος σε αυτή τη διαδικασία μπορεί να είναι ο εντοπισμός στη Σελήνη ενός τεράστιου σπηλαίου, που εκτιμάται ότι έχει μήκος 50 χιλιομέτρων και πλάτος 100 μέτρων. Το εντόπισε ο ιαπωνικός δορυφόρος Selenological and Engineering Explorer (Selene). Σύμφωνα με την ιαπωνική διαστημική υπηρεσία (JAXA) το σπήλαιο θα ήταν ιδανικό για να αξιοποιηθεί ως προστατευμένη διαστημική βάση, διευκολύνοντας έτσι μια μελλοντική εποίκιση του φεγγαριού.

Στην επιφάνεια της Σελήνης, στην περιοχή των λόφων Μάριους, φαίνεται από ψηλά το στρογγυλό άνοιγμα του σπηλαίου με πλάτος 50 μέτρων και βάθος επίσης 50 μέτρων. Η περαιτέρω μελέτη με ραντάρ που μπορεί να «δει» κάτω από την επιφάνεια, σύμφωνα με δημοσιεύματα των βρετανικών εφημερίδων «Guardian» και «Indepentent», αποκάλυψε ένα πολύ μεγαλύτερο σπήλαιο.

Η υπόγεια κοιλότητα μπορεί να περιέχει νερό σε μορφή πάγου, το οποίο θα ήταν δυνατό να αξιοποιηθεί, ακόμη και για τη μετατροπή του σε καύσιμα. Οι ιάπωνες επιστήμονες εκτιμούν ότι το τεράστιο φυσικό τούνελ σχηματίσθηκε από λάβα που χύθηκε, όταν στη Σελήνη υπήρχε έντονη ηφαιστειακή δραστηριότητα πριν από περίπου 3,5 δισεκατομμύρια χρόνια.

Με δεδομένο ότι η Σελήνη δεν διαθέτει προστατευτική ατμόσφαιρα, σπήλαια αυτού του είδους είναι κατ' εξοχήν υποψήφια για σεληνιακές βάσεις. Έχουν σταθερή θερμοκρασία (ενώ στην επιφάνεια η μέση θερμοκρασία κινείται από 107 βαθμούς Κελσίου τη μέρα έως μείον 153 βαθμούς τη νύχτα) και μπορούν να προστατεύσουν τόσο τους ανθρώπους όσο και τον εξοπλισμό τους από τους αστεροειδείς, τους μικρομετεωρίτες και την ακτινοβολία, την κοσμική και την υπεριώδη του Ήλιου.

Η Ιαπωνία έχει ανακοινώσει ότι σχεδιάζει να στείλει αστροναύτη στο φεγγάρι για πρώτη φορά γύρω στο 2030, πιθανώς μαζί με τη NASA και άλλες χώρες. Η Κίνα θέλει να στείλει την πρώτη επανδρωμένη αποστολή της στη Σελήνη το 2036 και έχει φιλόδοξα σχέδια για τη δημιουργία μόνιμης σεληνιακής αποικίας. Η Ρωσία θέλει επίσης να ξεκινήσει την κατασκευή μιας βάσης, αρχικά για τέσσερις ανθρώπους, έως το 2030. Και οι ΗΠΑ, που πρώτες -και μόνες μέχρι τώρα- πάτησαν το πόδι τους εκεί, έχουν τα δικά τους σχέδια επιστροφής.

[mihaikato]

New Discovery Raises Hope for Human Colonization of the Moon

😉👌 Moon Cave Colonization In October 2017, Japan’s Selenological and Engineering Explorer probe discovered a massive underground cave on the Moon. The space, which is 100 meters (328 feet) wide and 50 kilometers (31 miles) long, is being touted as a potential location for a lunar station. In fact, some experts are asserting that the best way … Continue reading New Discovery Raises Hope for Human Colonization of the Moon The post New Discovery Raises Hope for Human Colonization of the Moon appeared first on . http://dlvr.it/Q2B6r0

[bobnorthway]

New Discovery Raises Hope for Human Colonization of the Moon

Moon Cave Colonization

In October 2017, Japan’s Selenological and Engineering Explorer probe discovered a massive underground cave on the Moon. The space, which is 100 meters (328 feet) wide and 50 kilometers (31 miles) long, is being touted as a potential location for a lunar station. In fact, some experts are asserting that the best way to live on the Moon is in caves just like the one recently…