TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's first lunar probe, launched more than a month ago, successfully finished its initial critical phase, the space agency said Sunday.
"Both the Kaguya main satellite and its two baby satellites are in good health," the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement.
The Kaguya probe, named after a fairytale princess, released two baby satellites after being launched from southern Japan on September 14.
The 55-billion-yen (478-million-dollar) lunar probe is on the most extensive mission to investigate the moon since the US Apollo programme in the 1960s and 1970s, according to the space agency.
The baby satellites will be used to study the gravity fields of the moon, among other projects, the space agency said.
Japan has been expanding its space operations and has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.
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