The video next to these lines shows Antoniadi from approximately 13 miles (21 km). The large impact crater—located on the southern hemisphere, on the far side of the Moon—has an irregular edge, and it's one of the few craters in our satellite that has a second inner ring. Antoniadi's lowest point—measured by Selene's laser altimeter-is 5.5 miles deep.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The video below was taken from the perilune, the closest point to the Moon in Selene's trajectory: Just 6.8 miles high.

According to JAXA, the impact will take place on 18:30, June 10, 2009 (GMT) at E80 S63, on the near side of the moon, close to its south pole.

Until then, Kaguya—as it's called in Japanese—will keep recording high definition video at low altitude and doing whatever cool Moon probes do when they are not being watched, probably sing Sinatra songs. [JAXA YouTube Channel and JAXA]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Of course, these are no ordinary paper planes. Each of the 14 x 9-inch 1-ounce space shuttles are made with a special paper, treated with chemical products to allow it to resist such temperatures. The shuttles were tested in a hypersonic wind tunnel at the beginning of the year and, if everything goes well, they will make the trip to Kibo, the Japanese ISS module, on board the Space Shuttle Discovery in February.

Once they reach their destination, astronaut Dr. Koichi Wakata will then throw them in their voyage either by hand or using Dextre, the gigantic robotic arm on the ISS.

If they are lucky, they will reach populated areas, where they can be picked and returned to Japan's space agency. Hopefully for money, because if I got one of these from the ISS, I would keep it or sell it on eBay. [Asahi via Pink Tentacle]

Statement on Inaccurate Reports About Japanese Cargo Services

WASHINGTON — Contrary to news reports, NASA has not officially or unofficially been discussing the purchase of H-II Transfer Vehicles (HTV) — uninhabited resupply cargo ships for the space station — from the Japanese Space Agency, or JAXA.

NASA is committed to domestic commercial cargo resupply to the space station and does not plan to procure cargo delivery services from Japan. As part of our original agreements as compensation for common system operating costs NASA has limited cargo capability on the Japanese and European cargo vehicles. NASA has recently issued a request for proposal for the cargo needs of International Space Station beyond those supplied by our current international agreements. NASA has chosen to depend on commercial resupply of cargo delivery to the station.

[Reuters]

So far Selene has collected six million data points, and it keeps going on. These 3D data points are all being processed now to further enhance what already is the most detailed topographic map in the history of space exploration.

JAXA—Japan's space agency—also announced that the Selene mission has gathered detailed information regarding the mineral composition of parts of the Moon's surface, including thorium, potassium, and uranium sites.

This topographical and mineral information will be crucial for the planning for future manned lunar missions, including the foundation of permanent lunar posts. And they can always include them in the next edition of Rand McNally's Moon Road Atlas, so astronauts can keep it in the glove compartment. [JAXA]

Kizuna is expected to go live in July following a setup process once it is in position, but a speed boost is not the only aim of the game. Having a satellite in space means natural disasters on Earth are not going to have any ramifications on the country's connectivity, which can be imperative in disaster zones. If all should go well, expect such an infrastructure to hit the mainstream. Does that mean everyone will have a 1.2Gbps connection? Will outages become a thing of the past? Does Simba eventually become a good leader? The answers come in July, when the service rolls out. [JAXA via Yahoo News; AP]