History

1991
  • Research on lunar exploration started at the division of Earth Rotation and Mizusawa Astrogeodynamics Observatory of the National Astronomical Observatory.
  • The development of BBM of a radio source for VLBI to be onboard a penetrator of the lunar orbiter (Lunar-A) began.
1995
  • Discussion of Japanese lunar exploration by using H-II Launch Vehicle started.
  • RISE office was organized by Prof. Kawano.
1996

  • Three proposals,

    VLBI radio sources, a Laser altimeter and a relay satellite, were adopted for SELENE, and investigation of the observations and development of the instruments began.
1997
  • SELENE was scheduled to launch in 2003.
  • Design of VLBI radio sources onboard a satellite and a lander (VRAD), a laser altimeter (LALT), and a relay satellite began.
1999
  • Schedule of SELENE was changed to launch of 2004 and the soft landing plan was cancelled.
  • Development of the VLBI radio source onboard the lander stopped as the result.
2000
  • Development of the prototype model of LALT began.
  • Development of a sub-satellite (VRAD satellite or Vstar) with a radio source for VLBI began.
2001
  • Schedule of SELENE was changed again to launch of 2005.
  • Development of the flight model of LALT began.
  • Thermal model of In-situ Lunar Orientation Measurement (ILOM) telescope was fabricated.
2002
  • Development of the flight models of VRAD satellite (Vstar) and relay satellite (Rstar) began.
2004
  • National Astronomical Observatory, National Institute of Natural Science was founded.
  • RISE office was reorganizes into RISE sub-project as a part of the Mizusawa observatory as a C project.
2005
  • Schedule of SELENE was changed to launch of 2007 for the third time.
  • The flight model of LALT, Rstar and Vstar were completed.
2006
  • RISE sub-project was reorganized into RISE project office as a B project directed by Prof. Sasaki.
2007
  • SELENE was successfully launched and it was named “Kaguya”.
  • “Kaguya” It launches and is a mission start.
  • Rstar and Vstar were named “Okina” and “Ouna”, respectively.
2008
  • RISE project office was reorganized from B project to C project as the result of successful launch of SELENE.
  • Two experiments, lunar laser ranging (LLR) and inverse VLBI, were proposed to the next-generation lunar exploration program “SELENE-2” of JAXA.
2009
  • Lunar and Planetary Exploration sub-project office was established under the RISE project office.
  • SELENE mission was ended.
  • ILOM was Proposed to JAXA as SELENE2 on-board instrument, however, withdrawn later.
2011
  • RISE participated in the laser altimeter (LIDAR) group of JAXA’s asteroid exploration program “Hayabusa2”
2012
  • RISE project office was reorganized from C project to A project.
  • Lunar and Planetary Exploration sub-project office was ended.
  • RISE participated in the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) team with Germany, Switzerland and Spain, which was proposed to ESA’s Jovian system exploration program “JUICE”.
2013
  • GALA was selected as the laser altimeter instrument of JUICE.
2014
  • Prof. Noriyuki NAMIKI joined RISE team as the new project manager.
  • Launch of “Hayabusa2”
2015
  • JAXA’s SELENE-2 pre-project ended, without becoming a full mission project.
  • RISE participated in scientific evaluation of JAXA’s Martian Moon’s Sample return program (MMX).
  • Earth Gravity Assist operation of “Hayabusa2”. We participated in the successful laser link experiment between ground laser station and Hayabusa2 LIDAR.
2018
  • MMX became a pre-project of ISAS/JAXA.
  • “Hayabusa2” arrived at the asteroid Ryugu, and the laser altimeter (LIDAR) of Hayabusa2 started range observation.
2019
  • The official name of project was changed from RISE project office to RISE Project.
2020
  • MMX became a project of ISAS/JAXA.