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 35 Explorer 35 Explorer 35 (IMP-E, AIMP 2, Anchored IMP 2, Interplanetary Monitoring Platform-E) was a spin-stabilized spacecraft instrumented for interplanetary studies, at lunar distances, of the interplanetary plasma, magnetic field, energetic particles, and solar X rays. It was launched into an elliptical lunar orbit. The spin axis direction was nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, and the spin rate was 25.6 rpm. Mission objectives were achieved. After successful operation for 6 years, the spacecraft was turned off on June 24, 1973. The Ames magnetometer experiment consisted of a boom-mounted triaxial fluxgate magnetometer and an electronics package. The sensors were orthogonally