From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Japanese 1990 Lunar Probe
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Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 04:31:57 GMT

In article <BxKFIA.5Er.1@cs.cmu.edu>, 0004244402@mcimail.com (Karl Dishaw) writes...
>I saw a UPI dispatch saying that Japan launched two satellites to the 
>Moon in January 1990, but there wasn't anything in the FAQ about them.  
>Does anybody know what happened on that mission and whether they got 
>any useful data?
> 

I wrote this about the Japan probes a year and a half ago.  I've also
appended Yoshiro Yamada's post on a later lunar fly.

                            HITEN STATUS REPORT
                               March 8, 1991

     Japan's small Moon probe, Hiten, made its seventh lunar flyby on March 3,
passing about 13,300 km from the Moon.  JPL's Deep Space Network is tracking
the spacecraft.  On February 28, the 34 meter Goldstone antenna supported
ranging tests on Hiten, and were successful.  On March 1, the same antenna was
used to collect 24 minutes of ranging and doppler data.

     Hiten was launched into Earth orbit on January 24, 1990.  The spacecraft
was then known as MUSES-A, but was renamed to Hiten once in orbit.  The 430 lb
probe looped out from Earth and made its first lunary flyby on March 19, where
it dropped off its 26 lb midget satellite, Hagoromo.  Japan at this point
became the third nation to orbit a satellite around the Moon, joining the
Unites States and USSR.

     The smaller spacecraft, Hagoromo, will remain in orbit around the Moon.
An apparently broken transistor radio caused the Japanese space scientists to
lose track of it.  Hagoromo's rocket motor fired on schedule on March 19, but
the spacecraft's tracking transmitter failed immediately.  The rocket firing
of Hagoromo was optically confirmed using the Schmidt camera (105-cm, F3.1) at
the Kiso Observatory in Japan.

    Hiten will continue to make lunar flybys on a regular basis, typically
once a month.  According to Takahiro Yamada at ISAS,  Hiten will be performing
aerobreaking experiments on March 19 and 30.  These experiments will be done
using the atmosphere of the Earth.  The next lunar flyby is scheduled for
April 26.


                       Key Dates for Hiten
                       ----------------------------------------
                       01/24/90    Launch
                       03/19/90    1st Lunar Flyby,
                                   Separation of probe
                       07/10/90    2nd Lunar Flyby
                       08/04/90    3rd Lunar Flyby
                       09/07/90    4th Lunar Flyby
                       10/02/90    5th Lunar Flyby
                       01/27/91    6th Lunar Flyby
                       03/03/91    7th Lunar Flyby
                       03/19/91    1st Aerobraking Maneuver
                       03/30/91    2nd Aerobraking Maneuver
                       04/26/91    8th Lunar Flyby


Forwarded from Yohiro Yamada, Yokohama Science Center

                                 HITEN STATUS REPORT
                                  February 22, 1992

     Hiten (MUSES-A) made a close approach to the moon at 22:33 JST (UTC+9h)
on February 15 at the height of 423 km from the moon's surface (35.3N, 9.7E)
and fired its propulsion system for about ten minutes to put the craft into
lunar orbit.

The following is the orbital calculation results  after the approach:

	Apoapsis Altitude: about 49,400 km
	Periapsis Altitude: about 9,600 km
	Inclination	: 34.7 deg (to ecliptic plane)
	Period		: 4.7 days


(Source: February 17, 1992, Announcement by ISAS/Office of External Relations)

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