The University's Contribution toward Research Article on "KAGUYA" Published in "Nature"

Japanese/English
September 10, 2009

A research paper co-authored by faculty members of the University of Aizu, affiliated to CAIST/ARC-Space (the Research Center for Advanced Information Science and Technology / the Aizu Research Cluster for Space Science), was published in a British science journal, "Nature" issued on September 10, 2009. (The University of Aizu Campus News)

In this paper, our faculty members made contributions through provision of spectral-analyzer software to estimate mineral composition from reflected spectrum of the lunar surface materials and analysis on how the crusts of the lunar highland were exposed in the inside of lunar craters.

The relevant faculty members of the University have been a part of the team of LISM (Lunar Imager/SpectroMeter) since the early planning stages of the KAGUYA project. They participated in development and tests of mission instruments and software development for data analysis. They conducted research on means of data compression to send image data observed by the Multi-band Imager (MI) efficiently, and developed software for operation of observation instruments. The results from the University's research were used to obtain observational data for LISM. With the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, the University started research on a lunar surface GIS (Geographic Information System) server which can visualize data observed by KAGUYA two years ago. To promote further research and development of analytical software, the University newly recruited young researchers with great experience gained in the KAGUYA project to CAIST/ARC-Space established in April of this year.

The University will carry out further analysis to acquire more scientific output from the observational data obtained by KAGUYA in cooperation with JAXA and other related research institutions, and will also promote software development aiming at more efficient and accurate analysis.

Co-authors of the research paper from the University of Aizu: Professor Noriaki Asada, the Multimedia Systems Laboratory; Assistant Professor Hirohide Demura, the Multimedia Systems Laboratory and CAIST/ARC-Space; Assistant Professor Naru Hirata, the Multimedia Systems Laboratory and CAIST/ARC-Space; Assistant Professor Yoshiko Ogawa, CAIST/ARC-Space; Assistant Professor Chikatoshi Honda, CAIST/ARC-Space; Assistant Professor Kohei Kitazato, CAIST/ARC-Space; Assistant Lecturer Junya Terazono, the Database Systems Laboratory and CAIST/ARC-Space

Lead author and co-authors of the research paper invited to the University of Aizu Graduate School as adjunct professors: Dr. Makiko Ohtake, JAXA (Lead author); Dr. Junichi Haruyama, JAXA; Dr. Yasuhiro Yokota, JAXA; Dr. Tomokatsu Morota, JAXA; Dr. Akira Sasaki, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; *Listed in order of the chapters

The research paper was based on observational data obtained by the Multiband Imager onboard "KAGUYA" (SELENE). As a result of analyzing the mineral distribution on the entire lunar surface observed by the Multiband Imager onboard the lunar orbiting satellite "SELENE" (KAGUYA), this paper clarified for the first time in the world that anorthosite (*1) consisting of nearly 100% anorthite was widely distributed in the lunar highland crust. JAXA provides more details about the research at its official Press Release site.

Multiband Imager (MI) is one of the observation instruments onboard "KAGUYA". This is one of three optical observation instruments (TC: Terrain Camera, SP: Spectral Profiler and MI) installed on "KAGUYA". This article is recognized as the first research achievement on the Moon using MI observational data. It is written by a lead author, Assistant Professor Makiko Ohtake, Department of Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Principal Investigator of MI Observation Instrument Team (Adjunct Professor of the University of Aizu Graduate School) and 31 other researchers of the team from both Japan and other countries.

(*1) A white igneous rock rich in minerals called anorthite made of calcium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen is called anorthosite.