Japanese first double lunar swingby mission “Hiten”

Abstract

The paper discusses the Japanese first lunar mission named “Hiten”. The spacecraft system, its major mission objectives, namely, the double lunar swingby experiments and the insertion of a miniaturized sub-satellite into an orbit around the moon, are presented. The results of these engineering missions, and other experiments such as optical navigation, packet telemetry by use of a fault tolerant computer and detection of micro-meteorite particles in space of the Earth-moon system, are also described. A couple of follow-on missions, which may be conducted if the Hiten spacecraft will survive the aerobraking experiments at the end of its original 1 year mission life, are discussed. These follow-on missions include an excursion to the Lagrange points of the Earth-moon system and orbiting the Hiten spacecraft itself around the moon.