Exploration of the Moon with the Hiten spacecraft, becoming the third country to place an object in orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft released the Hagoromo probe into lunar orbit, but the transmitter failed, thereby preventing further scientific use of the spacecraft. In September 2007, Japan launched the SELENE spacecraft, with the objectives "to obtain scientific data of the lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for the future lunar exploration", according to the JAXA official website. The European Space Agency launched a small, low-cost lunar orbital probe called SMART 1 on September 27, 2003. SMART 1's primary goal was to take
Explorer 34 perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. Like the earlier IMPs, this spacecraft was instrumented to study interplanetary magnetic fields, energetic particles, and plasma. The spacecraft optical aspect system failed on 4 March 1969. Otherwise, useful data were acquired until just before spacecraft reentry, which occurred on 3 May 1969. Explorer 34 Explorer 34, also called IMP-4 and Interplanetary Monitoring Platform IMP-F, was an American satellite launched as part of Explorers program. Explorer 34 as launched on 24 May 1967 on Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States, with Delta rocket. Explorer 34 was the fourth satellite of the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform.