The Result of SELENE (KAGUYA) Development and Operation~!2009-06-28~!2009-08-10~!2009-10-01~!

Abstract

Japan's first large lunar explorer was launched by the H-IIA rocket on September 14, 2007 and had been in observation operation from December 21, 2007 to June 11, 2009(JST). This explorer named "KAGUYA (SELENE: SELenological and Engineering Explorer)" has been keenly anticipated by many countries as it represents the largest lunar exploration project of the post-Apollo program. The lunar missions that have been conducted so far have gathered a large amount of information on the Moon, but the mystery surrounding its origin and evolution remains unsolved. KAGUYA investigate the entire moon in order to obtain information on its elemental and mineralogical distribution, its geography, its surface and subsurface structure, the remnants of its magnetic field and its gravity field using the scientific observation instruments. The results are expected to lead to a better overall understanding of the Moon's origin and evolution. Further, the environment around the Moon including plasma, the electromagnetic field and high-energy particles will also be observed. The data obtained in this way is of great scientific value and is also important information in the possibility of utilizing the Moon in the future. This paper describes the highlight of KAGUYA development and operation with some newly developed engineering achievements including a separation mechanism of sub-satellites from main orbiter as well as the latest scientific accomplishment of KAGUYA.

Activities to Promote the Moon as an Absolute Calibration Reference

“…Since the first complete observation of the lunar surface by the U.S. Clementine in 1994 [66], the Japanese lunar orbiter SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) [67], the Chinese Chang'e-1 [68], and the Indian Chandrayaan-1 [69] were launched, which enabled many researchers to propose photometric functions and parameters for the Moon. The Japanese SELENE SP (Spectral Profiler) acquired nearly 7000 hyperspectral lunar surface data with 500 m swaths in the nadir direction from 2007 to 2009 at a lunar orbit of approximately 200 km [40,70] (Table 1); furthermore, two additional push-scan imaging payloads (Terrain Camera, TC; Multiband Imager, MI) covered the SP footprint with different swath widths [71].…”

A low noise front end electronics for micro-channel plate detector with wedge and strip anode

“…Therefore, two Sallen-Key circuits are equivalent to the (RC) 4 method. The advantage of the Sallen-Key topology can obtain an equivalent (RC) 2 integration with an amplifier.The impulse response of the (RC) 4 shaping network is simply the inverse Laplace transform and is given by…”

“…The two-dimensional position sensitive Micro-Channel Plate (MCP) is widely applied in the Earth's plasmasphere monitor [1,2]. As a charge multiplication element, the MCP detector could amplify original photoelectron by several orders of magnitude via secondary emission of the MCP pore.…”