Japan’s Kaguya Mission Delivers First HD Images of the Moon in 2007

On September 13, 2007, Japan successfully launched the Kaguya spacecraft, marking a significant milestone in lunar exploration as the country’s first mission to orbit the moon. Formally designated SELENE, short for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer, the probe lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket. Although the launch occurred in the evening Eastern Time on September 13, local time at the launch site was already 10:31 a.m. on September 14.

Kaguya was Japan’s second attempt at a lunar mission, following the 1990 launch of the Hiten probe. While Hiten conducted flybys and deployed the Hagoromo microsatellite, it never achieved lunar orbit before crashing in 1993. In contrast, Kaguya was designed to fully operationalize the technology tested by its predecessor. After a two-week transit involving two loops around Earth, the spacecraft arrived at the moon and deployed a three-part configuration: a main orbiter, a relay satellite named Okina, and a gravity-mapping satellite called Ouna.

The mission captured widespread public attention due to its high-definition cameras, which produced the first-ever HD video and photographs of the moon. These images included dramatic depictions of Earthrise, a phenomenon previously documented only during NASA’s Apollo missions. Additionally, the spacecraft generated a comprehensive topographical map of the lunar surface, identified gravitational anomalies on both the near and far sides, and obtained the first optical views of the permanently shadowed region within Shackleton Crater at the south pole.

The mission was originally scheduled to conclude in October 2008, with plans for an extension into 2009. However, a malfunction in one of the reaction wheels necessitated an early end to the extended operations. On February 12, 2009, mission controllers deliberately crashed Kaguya into the lunar surface near Gill Crater, officially terminating the successful exploration mission.