Japan's 1st lunar probe crash-lands on moon

Japanese tech sense is too much concerned about dancing, greeting and cooking robots instead spending some attention on other areas is highly suggestable.

bamboohat;

Um, don't we already have a few of those?

Lunar mapping at high resolution, or in different wavelengths to determine the surface composition, or the insides of some crates, are things that "we" do not have. That would be the reason why Japan, China, India, and the US still send probes to orbit and map the moon.

"We" have lots of satellites orbiting the Earth and mapping it, so obviously there is still a lot to be learned here at home and out there.

The reason it was intentionally crashed was to try and take a look at the dust and lunar surface material that would be kicked up which would give some data on its composition, maybe even if there is water or some useful minerals.

JT - I think you can omit the "land" in "crash-land" from the title :). It just crashed...

No "crash-land" is correct because it was controlled and intentional. Other space vehicles "landed" on the moon because they were designed to land, Kaguya was not designed to land.

And I agree with nimbus who said that this controlled crash-landing provides valuable data in case an emergency cropped up on a manned flight.

they should load up Aso on the next one maybe the landing will be a little smoother.

kwatt, you are corect that no human's head will be hit if they just let Kaguya crash natrually by itself. However, it would be a rare and good opportunity to practice real controlled crash landing, in case they need to do that to something orbiting earth in the future.

sharky1 - Why controlled crash is better? No one is living down there. So it will not hit your head down there. Kaguya would crash naturally someday without its power/energy. little satellite of Kaguya is still arbiting. Why don't they kill it?

No not content to just be one of the worst polluters of the environment down here on earth, Japan has started to litter the surface of the moon as well.

Timorborder: LOL. Thanks for posting some sense of humor!

Guess a controlled crash is better than an uncontrolled crash in some way. Better luck next time!

kwatt,

They had to crash lands NOW. As I mentioned in my previous post, Kaguya didn't have enough power to even orbit the moon since it ran out of the energy source, therefore the planned crash.

Congratulations Patrick, you're improving to 50-50 these days.

john113 - I mean they did not have to make the satellite crash on moon NOW. When the time comes, it will crash naturally. I think they enjoyed very very much when it crashed on moon. The baby satellite of Kaguya is still orbiting. They maybe try to shoot it down with missile. It must be good physics.

kwatt at 09:08 AM JST - 12th June

They seemed to enjoy destroying it as if children were sick and tired of the same toy.

If you know a little bit of physics, you won't come up with such a silly guess. The satellite just didn't have enough power to escape the Moon's gravitational field. Well done Kaguya.

Timorborder - the United States has far more "rubbish" on the moon's surface.

...and there's tons of satellite and rocket "debris" floating around earth's orbit too, from many countries including Japan... Timorborder just loves to find reasons to single out and attack Japan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Debris

Kaguya is now dead. They can't dump trash on moon. I feel the moon probe is poor as it worked very much for us. If they kill it on purpose, I just wanted its name ASO insted of Kaguya. Such a good name should not be killed.

Timorborder - the United States has far more "rubbish" on the moon's surface. It's hardly a reasonable comparison. I suspect the intentional impact of Kaguya was to observe the spectra of the plume?

JT - I think you can omit the "land" in "crash-land" from the title :). It just crashed...

“..we will have a very detailed map of the lunar surface,” said

Um, don't we already have a few of those?

Let's test their accuracy.....have the next one crash land into the first one.....hehehe.

I wonder if the lunar probe now needed to be crashed on moon. It must be very very expensive machine. Could they use it more years for other purposes? They seemed to enjoy destroying it as if children were sick and tired of the same toy.

So when are they going to pony up them pics of the US lunar landing sites and put the conspiracys to rest.

Opening soon "Lunar Lawson"!

Sour grapes from Japan notwithstanding.

If sour grapes are a concern, please refer to the first post on this topic.

Anyway, as I said it's a good achievement scientifically and it's about science, not a strawman for others to use to push their delusions of Chinese superiority.

Pretty successful mission and the planned crash-landing at the end will result in more science, China's insuperiority complex notwithstanding.

Japan should step up to the plate, accept that there are risks, and have it's own manned space program.

Only if Japan has an ego problem like China and her citizens. Still doesn't change the fact that China is a backward country that still has a lot of people without running water and still receives aid from Japan.

timorborder - LOL! That made my day.

No not content to just be one of the worst polluters of the environment down here on earth, Japan has started to litter the surface of the moon as well.

a job well done for a space probe .. however it's just sad it had to crash land in the end.

yeah nigel, I think you are right. Japan would rather not attempt to send an astronaut to space for fear of having to self detonate their rocket, just like they did in 2003, one month after China successfully sent, and retrieved, their astronaut from space.

Gotta love Japan's cowardness.

"So, when will Japan make the jump by sending one of their astronauts to space independently?

After all, Japan wants to land a man on the moon so it's pretty obvious that they need to have a true manned space program first"

I thought that was what robots are for?

In any case, I don't think Japan wants to land a man on the moon whereby hundreds of innocent lives killed due to launch failures like China.

So, when will Japan make the jump by sending one of their astronauts to space independently?

After all, Japan wants to land a man on the moon so it's pretty obvious that they need to have a true manned space program first.