![]() Dale explained that last November scientists from ESA, India, Japan, Russia, and the United States met at a LRO science meeting. Meanwhile, work progresses on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, to be launched in October 2008. “Japan’s SELENE will be the largest lunar mission since Apollo, and there are other planned lunar exploration missions including ones from China and Russia,” Dale advised, as she spotlighted India’s Chandrayaan-1 Moon orbiter that - along with Indian scientific instruments - includes two instruments from Europe and two from the United States. For example, she said, the European Space Agency’s SMART-1 recently completed its Moon orbiting survey work. “At other times, space agencies may choose to send independent missions to the moon or conduct independent studies while utilizing shared support services.”ĭale noted that independent robotic missions to the Moon exist today. In some cases, international lunar exploration efforts in the future will coalesce around one single, integrated activity, much like the international space station today,” Dale said. “As we move forward, we will see many different kinds and levels of cooperation that result from this framework. A key focus, she continued, will be hammering out a framework that can guide future international coordination and collaboration efforts. In 2007, NASA will initiate “Cycle 2”, a fine-tuning of the lunar architecture, including potential commercial and international involvement, Dale said. Of those themes, Dale highlighted international collaboration, adding that the strategy “has been a work in progress to which more than 1,000 people from around the world and experts of 14 space agencies have contributed.” JAXA’s Yoshisada Takizawa, SELENE Project Manager, said the orbiter will use the very latest, high performance mission instruments, observing the crater laden Moon via 14 sensors during its one-year mission.Īt the Moon, those sensors can reveal the distribution of the elements and minerals on the lunar surface the surface and sub-surface structure the gravity field the remnant of the magnetic field and the environment of energetic particles and plasma of the Moon. The SELENE effort consists of a Main Orbiter and the smaller spacecraft that, among duties, can help advance knowledge about the Moon’s gravity field. Tipping the scales at three tons in weight - including two sub-satellites each weighing roughly 110 pounds (50 kilograms) - SELENE is built to gather scientific data about the moon. This summer, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to launch that nation’s lunar orbiter via an H-IIA booster.ĭubbed the Selenological and Engineering Explorer, this hefty Moon orbiter is billed by JAXA officials as the largest lunar mission since the Apollo humans-on-the Moon program that ended in 1972. Over the next 10 years, Chinese space officials have called for a lunar rover, followed by a lunar sample return mission. ![]() According to the People’s Daily Online, Luan has contrasted the lunar probe’s cost of $175.5 million to building 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) of subway.Ĭhang’e I is China’s first step in a multi-pronged Moon program. ![]() The lunar orbiter is designed to carry out a one-year mission.Ĭhang’e I’s price tag has been given by Luan Enjie, chief commander of China’s lunar probe project. The craft will yield 3D images of the moon’s surface, probe the distribution of 14 “usable elements” on the moon, gauge the temperature of the moon, estimate the depth of the lunar crust, as well as study the space environment between Earth and the moon. While precise specifications about onboard science gear is not widely known, Chinese space planners have explained in broader terms the goals of the mission. ![]()
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