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
Gill (lunar crater) pair of small craters lie along the northern rim, and Gill A intrudes slightly into the western outer rim. The interior floor is relatively level, and is marked by several craterlets. On June 11, 2009, the Japanese SELENE lunar orbiter spacecraft was deliberately crashed into the surface of the Moon to the southeast of Gill. The impact site was at selenographic coordinates 65.5 S, 80.4 E. The flash from the impact was successfully observed from Mount Abu Observatory in Guru Shikhar, India. and by the Anglo-Australian Telescope. By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter