SELENE 70 µm (0.0003 in) per character. The sheet was installed under the photovoltaic modules and cooling panels beneath the multi-layered insulation. Major results include: SELENE was part of a renewed global interest in lunar exploration; it was "the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program". It followed Japan's first lunar probe, Hagoromo, launched in 1990. China launched its Chang'e 1 lunar explorer on October 24, 2007, followed by India's 22 October 2008 launch of Chandrayaan-1 and the United States Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in June 2009. The United States, European countries (ESA), Russia, Japan, India and China are planning future manned
Explorer 49 Explorer 49 Explorer 49 (also called Radio Astronomy Explorer-B(RAE-B)) was a 328 kilogram satellite launched on June 10, 1973 for long wave radio astronomy research. It had four 230-meter long X-shaped antenna elements, which made it one of the largest spacecraft ever built. "Explorer 49" was launched after the termination of the Apollo program, and although it did not examine the Moon directly, it became the last American lunar mission until the launch of Clementine spacecraft in 1994. This mission was the second of a pair of Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE) satellites, "Explorer 38" or RAE-A being the first. "Explorer