SELENE SELENE SELENE (; Selenological and Engineering Explorer), better known in Japan by its nickname , was the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft following the Hiten probe. Produced by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), the spacecraft was launched on September 14, 2007. After successfully orbiting the Moon for a year and eight months, the main orbiter was instructed to impact on the lunar surface near the crater Gill on June 10, 2009. The orbiter's nickname, Kaguya, was selected by the general public. It comes from the name of a lunar princess
SELENE-2 deliver up to 340 kg of payload, including the rover. Its mission would last two weeks. The rover would have a mass of 100 kg, and it would operate for two weeks. One option JAXA was investigating in 2006, was to integrate a small data relay satellite and penetrators into the mission. SELENE-2 SELENE-2 , or the Selenological and Engineering Explorer 2, is a cancelled Japanese robotic mission to the Moon that would have included an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It was intended as a successor to the 2007 SELENE (Kaguya) lunar orbiter. The lander would have targeted