Comparison of Asian national space programs to fuel future energy demands in Asia. All three main Asian space powers plan to send men to the Moon in the distant future and have already sent lunar probes. Japan was the first Asian country to launch a lunar probe. The Hiten (Japanese: "flying angel") spacecraft (known before the launch as MUSES-A), built by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of Japan, was launched on 24 January 1990. In many ways, the mission did not go as was planned. Kaguya, the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft, was launched on 14 September 2007. China launched its first lunar probe,
Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) is a satellite to conduct a 26-month study of noctilucent clouds (NLCs). It is the ninetieth Explorer program mission and is part of the NASA-funded Small Explorer program (SMEX). On April 25, 2007 AIM was boosted into a high polar orbit by a Pegasus-XL rocket, which was air-launched from the Lockheed L-1011 "Stargazer" aircraft operated by Orbital Sciences. The AIM satellite is a , by spacecraft, powered by two solar arrays, carrying three instruments: The noctilucent clouds AIM is to study, also known as Polar mesospheric