The H-IIA Launch Vehicle No.13 lifted off at 10:31:01 a.m. JST on Sep. 14, 2007 from the Tanegashima Space Center.

---------------------------------------------------------
http://h2a.mhi.co.jp/en/f13/countdown/index.html

2007-09-14 11:16
KAGUYA (SELENE) separation
The separation of KAGUYA (SELENE) was confirmed.
This is the end of the Countdown Report.
Snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Japan has a spacecraft on its way to the Moon and Google announces a $30
million Lunar X PRIZE, send your own robotic mission to the Moon.

Should be interesting times, pass it on, talk it up, dream on.

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
Larry,

I thought you would be interested in this.

Google Sponsors Lunar X PRIZE to Create a Space Race for a New Generation

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070913/0301400.html

Best wishes,

David

Snip
==============================================================
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1334455520070914?pageNumber=1&sp
=true
REUTERS
Google sponsors moon landing prize
Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:37pm EDT

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Web search leader Google Inc. will
sponsor a $30 million competition for an unmanned lunar landing,
following up on the $10 million Ansari X Prize that spurred a private
sector race to space.

Like the Ansari X Prize, which was claimed in 2004 by aircraft designer
Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen for a pair of flights by
SpaceShipOne, the Google Lunar X Prize is open to private industry and
non-government entities worldwide, organizers said before an official
announcement on Thursday.

First prize is $20 million for the group that can land a lunar rover --
an unmanned robotic probe -- on the moon, take it on a 500 meter (1,640
ft) trek and broadcast video back to Earth by December 31, 2012.

The prize falls to $15 million if the landing takes place by December
31, 2014.

Snip
==============================================================
http://www.mercurynews.com/google/ci_6883548
Google sponsors race to the moon

By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News
Article Launched: 09/13/2007 10:57:19 AM PDT

Google announced today it is sponsoring a $30 million robotic race to
the moon, organized by the X PRIZE Foundation, a Santa Monica non-profit
famous for issuing multimillion-dollar scientific challenges.

A $20 million grand prize will go to the first team that lands a
privately funded spacecraft on the moon and carries out certain tasks.
Google is also offering a second prize of $5 million and bonus prizes of
$5 million for teams meet additional challenges, such as finding lunar ice.

Peter Diamandis, chief executive of the X PRIZE Foundation, said in a
statement that the goal of the competition is to stimulate the
development of low-cost methods for robotic space exploration.

"The use of space has dramatically enhanced the quality of life and may
ultimately lead to solutions to some of the most pressing environmental
problems that we face on earth - energy independence and climate
change," Diamandis said.

"I'm happy to see it happening, and I hope somebody wins it, I really
do," said Steven W. Squyres, an astronomy professor at Cornell
University and the principal investigator for science payload for NASA's
rover mission to Mars.

Snip
==============================================================
http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f13/index_e.html
Launch Postponement of the KAGUYA (SELENE)/H-IIA F13
[September 11, 2007 Updated]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency would like to announce that we have decided to postpone the
launch of the Lunar Orbit Explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE) by H-IIA Launch
Vehicle No. 13 (H-IIA F13) as adverse weather conditions are expected
during the scheduled countdown operations starting from one day prior to
the launch day.

The new launch date will be September 14 (Fri,) 2007 (Japan Standard
Time, JST.) The launch time is scheduled for 10:31:01 a.m. (JST.)

We will re-examine the weather and other conditions tomorrow for the
launch on the 14th.

The launch was previously scheduled for September 13 (Thu,) 2007 (JST.)

KAGUYA/H-IIA F13 to be launched at 10:31:01 a.m. on Sep. 14, 2007 (JST)

Snip
------------------------
http://h2a.mhi.co.jp/en/f13/*
Launch of the KAGUYA (SELENE) by H-IIA Launch Vehicle No.13 (Sep 12, 2007)

*
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency would like to announce that we have decided to carry out the
launch of the Lunar Orbit Explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE) by H-IIA Launch
Vehicle No. 13 (H-IIA F13) on September 14 (Fri), 2007, (Japan Standard
Time, JST,) as we informed you yesterday. The scheduled launch time is
10:31:01 a.m. (JST.)

Snip
==============================================================

Target Moon: Japan's Kaguya Probe Set for Lunar Mission

http://bcast1.imaginova.com/t?r=2&ctl=1C989:4A48D

Larry Klaes

Snip
-----------------
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070912_techwed_kaguyamoon.html
*Target Moon: Japan's Kaguya Probe Set for Lunar Mission

**By Tariq Malik <http://www.space.com/php/contactus/feedback.php?r=tm>*
Staff Writer
posted: 12 September 2007
7:00 a.m. ET

Japan's massive Kaguya lunar orbiter stands poised to launch spaceward
this week on a mission that, researchers hope, will unlock the secrets
of the moon.

Equipped with a veritable arsenal of science instruments and two baby
satellites, the three-ton moon probe is set to liftoff from Japan early
Friday (Local Time) on a one-year mission to Earth's nearest neighbor.

"The Japanese people are very interested in this mission," said Shinichi
Sobue, Kaguya's science coordinator and public outreach for the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). "Kaguya, or SELENE, is our first
mission for really observing the moon."

Japan launched a previous lunar mission in 1990, but the flight served
primarily as a technology demonstrator, Sobue told /SPACE.com/. That
mission -- dubbed Muses-A -- sent the Hiten spacecraft on a series of
lunar flybys and orbits, released the small microsatellite Hagoromo and
intentionally crashed into the moon's surface in 1993.

Snip
==============================================================
Mr. Kellogg:

I am sure you saw this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUST11303420070914?feedType=RSS&feed
Name=scienceNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Bob MacBird

Conroe, Texas

Snip
-----------------
REUTERS

Japan's lunar "princess" shoots for the moon
Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:14pm EDT
By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan launched its first lunar probe on Friday,
nicknamed Kaguya after a fairy-tale princess, in the latest move in a
new race with China, India and the United States to explore the moon.

The rocket carrying the three-tonne orbiter took off into blue skies,
leaving a huge trail of vapor over the tiny island of Tanegashima, about
1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, at 10:31 a.m. (9:31 p.m. EDT) as it
headed out over the Pacific Ocean.

The long-delayed lunar explorer separated from the rocket in skies near
Chile about 45 minutes after lift off. It is to orbit the Earth twice
and then travel 380,000 km (237,500 miles) to the moon.

Snip
==============================================================

----------------------------------------------------------------------
                   ***  JAXA MAIL SERVICE  ***
               Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
----------------------------------------------------------------------
               Launch Result of the KAGUYA (SELENE)
          by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 13 (H-IIA F13)

                                            September 14, 2007 (JST)
                                   Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
                           Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA) launched the Lunar Orbit Explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE) by
the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 13 (H-IIA F13) at 10:31:01 a.m. on
September 14, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima
Space Center.

The launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 45 minutes and 34
seconds after liftoff, the separation of the KAGUYA was confirmed.

We would like to express our profound appreciation for the cooperation
and support of all related personnel and organizations that helped
contribute to the successful launch of the KAGUYA aboard the H-IIA F13.

At the time of the launch, the weather was clear, a wind speed was
5.9 m/second from the East South East, and the temperature was 29.8
degrees Celsius.

This information is also available on the following Special Site.
http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f13/index_e.html
http://h2a.mhi.co.jp/en/f13/index.html


This page URL:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/09/20070914_h2a-f13_e.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Publisher : Public Affairs Department
          Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
          Marunouchi Kitaguchi Building,
          1-6-5, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8260
          Japan
          TEL:+81-3-6266-6400

JAXA WEB SITE :
http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html

About This Mail Service :
To change registered e-mail address, or to cancel this service,
please access to
http://www.jaxa.jp/pr/mail/index_e.html

Snip
==============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================================================