Pronouncing it

I was at the IAC conference in Hyderabad, India last week. They had good presentations on Kaguya, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I learned that I was pronouncing it wrong. We were told by a JAXA person that it is pronounced KA-gu-ya, not ka-GU-ya.

Apparently, ka-GU-ya means 'furniture store.'

There's a funny joke in there somewhere.

Quote:
"Apparently, ka-GU-ya means 'furniture store.'

There's a funny joke in there somewhere."


Because it will be a treat for all us arm-chair space scientists?..........

or

Sofa so good for Japanese Lunar probe?

Hmmm, nope your wrong, there is not a funny joke in there somewhere

Brian

Kaguya is carrying a high-definition TV camera as her big furniture and now she have sent a nice picture to us.

KAGUYA (SELENE) Successful Image Taking by the High Definition Television (HDTV)
http://www.jaxa.jp/topics/2007/10_e.html
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/20071001_kaguya_j.html (in Japanese)

Delta-Vp2 was successful and now Kaguya is on the Moon transfer orbit.
The picture was taken on September 29, 110,000 km away from the Earth - the most distant HDTV image ever
You can see the South America.

The larger image is here. Enjoy!
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/img/20071001_kaguya.jpg

Thanks for the heads up on that - great stuff!

Doug

Wow! That looks so promising!

Is that a colorized image or an actual color one? Looks like color, but South America is too invariably blue?

It's early spring in South America. There's a lot of moisture in the air over the entire continent. That, combined with the rather extreme slant angle through which we're looking at the ground in this image (putting a lot of air between the viewpoint and the ground) means that yes, it likely is a true-color view.

-the other Doug

I have no idea about the specs, but maybe the color filters are not ideal for "real" color pictures and are maximised to bring out color differences on the moon? Anyone know?

Awesome photo, nop... Can't wait to see HDTV images and actual video footage of the Moon when Kaguya begins official science operations. Obviously.

After taking a look at the channels, it is probably true this is a RGB image, but the green and especially the blue channel were overexposed, leading to the unnaturally (?) blue appearance. Here's an attempt at producing a more typical Earth appearance:
Click to view attachment

According to JAXA report is that Kaguya is now heading toward the Moon. The LOI would be this Thursday October 4. Important day. Later, the relay satellite will be separated on Oct 9, VRAD by Oct 12 and finally Kaguya will be in Lunar Orbit by October 19.

I presume they mean October 4, Japan Time (as in the LOI is still on October 3, 2:01 pm Pacific Daylight Time)?

BTW, they updated the "Position of KAGUYA" page:

http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/en/communication/position_e.htm

Nice little image there. JPL needs to have that kind of animation instead of the Solar System Simulator.

Kaguya has a monitoring camera for cheking the solar array paddle deployment. This camera happened to capture another Earth image.
You can see the Earth through a small clearance between the body and the paddle.
http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/ja/communication...formation_j.htm (Sorry, in Japanese)
http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/image/communicat...071002_01_s.jpg

And now the movie has been released.
http://jda.jaxa.jp/jda/v4_e.php?v_id=0496f...p;category=4064
The change of the image is extremely slight and slow. Be patient

Movement can best be seen by watching features disappear into (I mean -- appear out of) the terminator.

Earth's rotation dictates features should be appearing, not disappearing at the western terminator.

The QT version doesn't work for me and it's the only one that would allow scrolling back and forth in the movie, without rebuffering. From what I can see in the WMV, most of the "moving" is KAGUYA moving farther from Earth with only a hint of rotation. The pointing is remarkably steady, though. I almost wish there was that "Apollo-like" human hand factor to show it's actual footage, not CGI renderings.

OOPS!!!

On review I'm happy to point out that this is indeed the case.

Yeah, QT doesn't work for me either. I wish they had posted these in some downloadable format that I could play with

That pic of the solar paddle that happened to catch Earth in it is pretty neat! nop, could you perhaps help out with translation of that page? Here is what the Google translator produces, which isn't bad; only the last sentence is unintelligible:

It would appear that Google's attempt at transliteration of "Kaguya" is "the [gu] and," which is not as cute as "It is quick the [bu]," its famous transliteration of "Hayabusa."

--Emily

Ok Emily, here is my rough translation. Sorry for my poor English. I think Google translation is not so bad, except for the last sentence.

--

We found that the earth was captured by the monitor camera for checking the solar paddle deployment.
It is a rare picture where the earth is seen between the interval of the paddle.
The image is not clear because it was not not taken by the HDTV, but a rare shot in which the configuration of the satellite and the earth was captured in good timing. Also you can realize the distance between the satellite and the earth.
Now Kaguya has left the earth orbit, and the long-waited day for injection into the lunar orbit is forthcoming.

--

This animation showing a diff during the movie was originally posted by anonymous on a Japanese BBS
Click to view attachment

Cool cool cool, nop!!! Been much more impressed with Kaguya so far than with many other missions...sweet bird, great outreach!

Kaguya should be in lunar orbit about 13 hours after this posting...

Whaddayaknow... it IS round.

Thank you very much for your posts and translations, nop! You are really a great help in spreading news from Japan!

--Emily

JAXA is deceiving us, djellison... They refuse to release REAL images taken by Kaguya that shows pristine waterfalls streaming off all sides of Earth's cube-shaped body...

Typical western nonsense! As can clearly be seen in these JAXA photos the Earth has a disk shaped body and the pristine waterfalls are falling away from the spacecraft and not visible since the craft is going to the moon.

How could I have been so blind???

So we won't know how the LOI went till 9:00 AM, JST on October 5...which would be 5:00 PM, PDT tomorrow.

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/20071004_kaguya_e.html

"At 5:55 a.m. on Thursday, a small engine was fired to change the probe's direction and speed and send it into an elliptical orbit around the moon's north and south poles. JAXA officials said the firing of the engine went well."

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071...0na036000c.html

Phil

At the beginning, JAXA says that Kaguya is mainly as an experimental spacecraft to prove new technologies.. Thus, I presume that this is one of the low-profile public relations' reasons since this kind of mission has high risk of success. Hope, that all new technologies would run fine after many past setback lessons.

looks like they were successful..see spaceflightnow.com article

edit:lets hope jaxa has an official update soon!!

I am not sure that Kaguya can be characterized as an "experimental spacecraft to prove new technologies", except as all spacecraft are experimental. At 2 tons and half a billion dollars, carrying 15 cutting edge planetary exploration instruments, this craft is the equal of any flown to any planet. JAXA has stated that it is "the most sophisticated lunar exploration mission in the post-Apollo Era." and "the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program". This mission could be the crown jewel of Japan's planetary exploration efforts for some time to come.

What I was saying comes from the extract: Kaguya's mission profile
More details about Kaguya:
Kaguya (Selene) Home Web
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (Kaguya)

I agree that the Kaguya is an impressive 3 ton spacecraft along with 15 scientific instruments.

press release is up.

I am pleased to share the success of LOI with you all



Kaguya is a scientific mission rather than technological one, but of course it includes lots of experimental elements for new technologies.

FYI, Japan once had an experimental lunar probe, Hiten (MUSES-A), launched in 1990 to prove new technologies. The mission included LOI, successive swing-by navigation, aero-breaking by earth atmosphere, daughter satellite deployment, orbit determination using optical navigation, observation of space dusts around Lagrange points, and so on. I think Kaguya's LOI was supported by techniques acquired in Hiten mission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiten
http://www.isas.ac.jp/j/isasnews/backnumbe...ISASnews154.pdf (mainly in Japanese, but including English articles and many figures)

We've had two unfortunate experiences in deploying of daughter satellites, Hagoromo from Hiten and MINERVA from Hayabusa But I hope we'll get "the third time lucky" in upcoming deployment of VRAD and relay satellites

Hoorah!

Now you're rolling!

I wonder when the first images will be published

A new update from Kaguya. It has already performed the 3rd LOI.
The First LOI:
Injected orbit
Apogee altitude 11,741 km
Perigee altitude 101 km
Period 16 hours 42 minutes

The second LOI:
Apogee altitude 5,694 km
Perigee altitude 108 km
Period 7 hours 53 minutes

The third LOI: has already conducted. There are still three more.

More details KAGUYA (SELENE) Lunar Orbit Adjustment Maneuver (LOIx)

Just a curiosity, how does the spacecraft able to lower the Apogee?
Trying to understand it, it is done by firing the rocket when the spacecraft is reaching the apogee so that the next loop will go slower and thus reducing its next apogee altitude and continues until reaching the desired altitude?

Simple Really,
The simplest way to raise or lower the perigee or apogee is to do a rocket firing at opposite position you want to change.
ie. to lower apogee you decrease speed at perigee. or to raise apogee you increase speed when at perigee. etc...
so the burn doesn't change the current position..it affects the opposite side of the orbit.
Efficiency issues using fuel resources sometimes has multiple perigee burns to increase the apogee to the required size..which is why I believe the probe did several orbits around the Earth. (I may be wrongabout why multiple burns though )
cheers
jb

The Relay satellite "Rstar" will be released tomorrow.

Phil

Rstar was successfully separated.
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/20071009_kaguya_e.html



I think data will be released after checkout of equipment. See translation of the press conference in LOI.
http://jspace.misshie.jp/index.php?LbyD%2F20071005

Nice update and a couple of spacecraft moonshots:

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/20071009_kaguya_e.html#at01

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/img/20071009_kaguya_05l.jpg

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/img/20071009_kaguya_07l.jpg


Enjoy........

Brian

All credit to JAXA - you guys know how to make this cool...

cover it in cameras

Doug

A couple of factors play in. One, ideally the delta-V should be impulsive (i.e. instantaneous, with infinite thrust)
But that means infinite structural loads, and a big engine. With a real engine, the thrusting must be conducted
over a finite time, i.e. a finite orbital arc. If the vehicle is spin-stabilized, and the arc is long, then the
engine suffers a cosine loss in useful thrust at the ends of the arc, and so it can be more efficient to split the
burn up into smaller ones (each with lower losses). There can also be issues of orbit determination or safety
(e.g. that should a burn fail part way through, you arent left in some catastrophic orbit - sometimes splitting
it up can avoid danger zones) but that is less likely here.

FYI, I hope this mapping image will help you figure out where Kaguya is
Mapping by Prof. Naru Hirata (Aizu Univ.) and article by Shin-ya Matsuura.
http://smatsu.air-nifty.com/lbyd/2007/10/post_38e8.html (Click the image to enlarge)

I see he's using NASA World Wind there

Many congratulations to JAXA after the disappointments about Nozomi et al. This mission is shaping up really nicely and there is a lot to look forward to. Those images of the moon with parts of the spacecrfat in the foreground remind me of Rosetta's fly-by of Mars.... as if we the viewers are looking out from a spacercraft which we are on-board.

KAGUYA (SELENE) Lunar Orbit Adjustment Maneuver (LOI4)



During the 4th LOI, Kaguya will lower from 2400 km apogee altitude to 800 km apogee altitude. The next step will free another small satelite of 50 kg: VRAD on October 12. Later, there will be two more LOI adjustments before entering the Lunar orbit at Oct 19.

VRAD (Vstar) separation coming up...


http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f13/topics/pd...830_vstar_e.pdf



Phil

.... and the VRAD satellite has departed, now-named "OUNA" meaning an "honorable elderly woman." How nice. A couple of photos show it sliding away into the black...

VRAD separation

Kenny

Getting there...

http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f13/topics/pd...925_loi56_e.pdf

Now for the images...

Phil

Here's the latest - images from the monitoring camera in low orbit.


Phil

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/10/20071021_kaguya.pdf

Click to view attachment