Japanese Lunar Exploration Program the LUNAR-A mission, and a small data relay satellite. SELENE-3 aims to return about 100 grams of samples from the Moon surface. It will be launched around 2020. However, due to financial issues JAXA is currently facing, this mission may be merged into the option-3 of SELENE-X. SELENE-X will be launched in the late 2010s, in view of Japan’s participation in Humans Lunar Activities foreseen. The SELENE-X may perform either of the following demonstrations: There are other options under study, and will be determined after the international exploration strategy has been clarified. MELOS (Mars Exploration with Lander-Orbiter Synergy) is a
Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer While its Electric Field Experiment failed around 2002, all other instruments continued to operate normally until science operations were ended on May 1, 2009. Various engineering tests were conducted afterward. Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer The Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST) is a NASA plasma physics satellite, and is the second spacecraft in the Small Explorer program. It was launched on August 21, 1996, from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Pegasus XL rocket. The spacecraft was designed and built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Flight operations were handled by Goddard for the first three years, and thereafter were transferred