Japan Moon Mission KAGUYA (SELENE) not releasing HD images of far side of the moon

Well it gets boring after awhile But we could pop up and get some time on the 120 inch Shane telescope at the Lick Observatory in San Jose.

LLNL has a laser up there



It's 'accessable'



Johnny Anonymous is taking the photo...

Originally posted by Erasurehead
KAGUYA is no more..

KAGUYA was descended to the 50km altitude from February 1, 2009 and then was descended again to 10-30km in Lower altitude (Perilune) from April 16, 2009. Finally, KAGUYA was impacted to the south-east of near side of the Moon on June 10, 2009 (GMT).

Impact location
ENear side, E80.4, S65.5

www.kaguya.jaxa.jp...

Pity...

I wonder what happened to China's probe, and India has been silent for some time

We keep this up there will be so much debris on the moon we won't be able to tell an anomaly from space junk

I will post this in the Selene thread...

Originally posted by zorgon
I wonder what happened to China's probe, and India has been silent for some time

Chang'e 1 impacted into the Moon on March 1st.

As for Chandrayaan 1, it's been busy. A few new images have been released here and according to this article, they plan to release their data in six months.

Also, I've heard that the data for Kaguya is supposed to be released in November, but I don't have a source for that, so we'll see.

We keep this up there will be so much debris on the moon we won't be able to tell an anomaly from space junk

Better to deorbit it in a controlled fashion now, rather than having it come down by itself in a random spot don't you think?

Originally posted by zorgon

Doesn't prove Apollo was there though, might have been the secret space corps stuck a few mirrors up there

Humans aren't even required.

Laser reflectors could and have been placed on the moon by probes.

Even rock and soil samples have been returned to earth vua unmanned probe, albeit in minimal amounts (publicly anyways)

Mix that regolith in with the oldest rocks and meteors from multiple locations on the Earth and you could not only corroborate every Lunar Origin theory except the Capture Hypothesis but also shut up the Apollo hoaxers... Maybe

The Capture hypothesis is conducive to some of the more interesting speculations regarding the Lunar Origins. I like it

*I find the name change from Kaguya to SELENE to be particularly intriguing, especially given the circumstances of this mission and what we already know about the other SELENE.

And Kaguya/SELENE was actually three satellites - but only one [allegedly] hit the moon....

There's at least two left - I bet they are being used in the other SELENE project.

[edit on 16-6-2009 by Exuberant1]

Very interesting thread... I spotted an anomaly in the photo provided by Zorgon of the moon taken by Mike Deegan, and I wondered if anyone would be able to provide any insight on it.


First image:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2d30edfc4513.jpg[/atsimg]

Image rotated and enlarged:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9d98d1f5c08d.jpg[/atsimg]


If this is just a "normal" feature... then what would cause this curious trench or line in the crater? I am at a loss... any takers?

Pictures taken by: Mike Deegan

Originally posted by Exuberant1
*I find the name change from Kaguya to SELENE to be particularly intriguing, especially given the circumstances of this mission and what we already know about the other SELENE.

Wasn't it the other way, the original name being SELENE and then "changed" (although not really changed, it was more of a nickname) to Kaguya, the Moon princess from a Japanese folk tale (The tale of the bamboo cutter)?

And what other SELENE are you talking about?


Not really related to your post, but something that I remembered today.

Even with high resolution cameras orbiting the Moon, showing the flag will be very difficult, not only because it's small but mostly because it will be seen from above, and if seen exactly at a 90º angle we can only see the top "stick" that holds the flag.

reply to post by ArMaP

Even with high resolution cameras orbiting the Moon, showing the flag will be very difficult, not only because it's small but mostly because it will be seen from above, and if seen exactly at a 90º angle we can only see the top "stick" that holds the flag.

I am using the following to show ArMaP’s point;

I know the following picture isn’t the moon, but it is an example of how telephone poles (much wider and longer then the flagpole on the Moon) on earth look from a Google Maps satellite image. Here you can see the shadow of the poles only and these are much thicker and longer than the flagpole on the moon.

If you can barely see these large poles on Earth, how would you see a much smaller pole on the Moon?

Originally posted by Exuberant1
*I find the name change from Kaguya to SELENE to be particularly intriguing

I think you have that backwards. SELENE is the official name, and was so from the beginning. Kaguya is the nickname that it was given to it later by the general public.

And Kaguya/SELENE was actually three satellites - but only one [allegedly] hit the moon....

"Okina", the small relay satellite, impacted on the lunar farside Feb 12, 2009. As far as I know "Ouna" is still orbiting the Moon.

I bet they are being used in the other SELENE project.

What other SELENE project?

Originally posted by ArMaP

Wasn't it the other way, the original name being SELENE and then "changed" (although not really changed, it was more of a nickname) to Kaguya, the Moon princess from a Japanese folk tale (The tale of the bamboo cutter)?

Yes it was. My bad.

Strange how the Japanese would name their probe by abbreviating a longer English name and only decided to give it a Japanese one later.

Most countries name their probes in their own language first.

I like the original name... ==

[edit on 16-6-2009 by Exuberant1]

Originally posted by Alter-Ego
If this is just a "normal" feature... then what would cause this curious trench or line in the crater? I am at a loss... any takers?

It is a natural feature. They're referred to as Rille. They're all over the Moon. The one in your photo is called Rima Petavius. Apollo 15 also landed next to a rille called Rima Hadley

I have been flamed endlessly for this vid.
Whatever... Here it is: (again)


Its just a bit hard of me to fully accept the scientific explanation.

As for the keeping back of high definition images from around the moon i think you can guess my opinion...

Originally posted by jra
Better to deorbit it in a controlled fashion now, rather than having it come down by itself in a random spot don't you think?

Mankind just needs to stop being a cosmic litterbug Thanks for the Chang_E update... been busy

Originally posted by jra
What other SELENE project?

Actually the name of the spacecraft IS Kaguya SELENE is the name of the project so there can be more SELENE's

This is the way its written on JAXA

SELenological and ENgineering Explorer "KAGUYA"(SELENE)
www.jaxa.jp...

Originally posted by ArMaP
Even with high resolution cameras orbiting the Moon, showing the flag will be very difficult, not only because it's small but mostly because it will be seen from above, and if seen exactly at a 90º angle we can only see the top "stick" that holds the flag.

Here on Earth the Vegas Sun gets HOT and plastic and cloth fall apart to powder relatively quickly.

I really wonder how many years a flag would last on the moon with the direct solar radiation and the raging dust storms that follow the terminator... I mean 40 years? I don't think so

I emailed JAXA a little while back regarding releasing HD images - here is their response and my original email request following it:

Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry about our SELENE project.
Regarding your query, the resolution of our highest capability camera, Terrain Camera (TC), is 10m, so it is difficult to identify the Apollo equipment because those are too small against the camera resolution.

For instance the rover of Apollo 17 is approximately 3.1m length, and TC could be possible to observe it as a dot.
However, with such condition, it is hard to distinguish the rover from rocks.
*FAQ www.selene.jaxa.jp...
*Press Release www.jaxa.jp...


HD footage wms.selene.jaxa.jp...
We hope that this information is of help to you.
Best regards,


Public Affairs Department
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
URL: www.jaxa.jp...
E-mail: [email protected]

----- Original Message -----
To: "PROFFICE"
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 2:02 AM
Subject: HD Images of the Moon


Dear Sirs,

When do you propose to provide High Definition (HD) images of the moon, particularly the far side? It is widely known that there are structures, bases and space craft that reside on the moon's surface - will your agency be able to provide images of this?

Hopefully your agency will not follow NASA's protocol of editing and withholding images.

Thank you!

Finally!! Public release of KAGUYA (SELENE) data archives

Searchable data of entire moon surface!! I am still trying to figure it out but here is the link. Happy hunting.

www.jaxa.jp...

reply to post by Erasurehead


There is also a full 3D Moon map to checkout. It is in Japanese, the English version will be out by the end of November. I am trying to work my way though it although it is not easy since I can't read Japanese at all.

wms.selene.jaxa.jp...

I have also emailed the JAXA.jp team to ask about KAGUYA Far side pictures, or higher quality mapping of their supposedly 30+ missions, but they didn't reply. The mystery remains.... ?

reply to post by pascalt


Have you looked at this site?

You have to register to download any available data.

Google Moon has some selene images on it, but it's a bit of a pig to get into, although you might see a red square or triangle over the normal view to zoom in on.