SELENE-2 , or the Selenological and Engineering Explorer 2, is a cancelled

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese robotic mission to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

that would have included an

orbiter A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, ...

, a lander and a

rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

. It was intended as a successor to the 2007 SELENE (Kaguya) lunar orbiter. Instead of SELENE-2, JAXA is working with the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

(ISRO) to plan a joint mission called the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX). The mission would send an uncrewed

lunar lander A lunar lander or Moon lander is a Lander (spacecraft), spacecraft designed to Moon landing, land on the surface of the Moon. As of 2024, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar lander to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing s ...

and

to explore the south pole region of the

no earlier than 2026. JAXA is likely to provide the under-development H3

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

and the rover, while ISRO would be providing the lander.

Overview

The lander would have targeted lava tubes and other permanently shadowed areas, which function as cold trap volatiles such as water. Water ice could be processed by future missions to produce spacecraft propellant ( LOX/H₂). ;Orbiter The orbiter would have a mass of 700 kg. ;Lander The lander would have a mass of 1,000 kg, and would be able to deliver up to 340 kg of payload, including the rover. Its mission would last two weeks. ;Rover The rover would have a mass of 100 kg, and it would operate for two weeks.

Penetrators

One option

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

was investigating in 2006, was to integrate a small data relay satellite and penetrators into the mission.

References

External links

* Manabu Kato
The Current Status of the Japanese Penetrator Mission Lunar-A
ISAS/JAXA, Information about the penetrator tests. {{Japanese space program Cancelled space probes Missions to the Moon Japanese Lunar Exploration Program Lunar rovers Robots of Japan Japanese space probes

Overview

Penetrators

See also

References

External links