The space agency has announced the August launch of its lunar orbiter will be postponed due to a technical glitch, delivering another setback to the much-delayed probe.
The Selenological and Engineering Explorer — or SELENE — probe was to have been launched aboard an H-IIA rocket on Aug. 17, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Friday.
However, during an inspection it was discovered that some components were improperly installed on the two smaller satellites that accompany the main orbiter, JAXA said.
The components will be replaced and a new launch date announced once it has been determined, it said.
The 32 billion yen SELENE is already four years behind schedule. Japan launched a moon probe in 1990, but that was a flyby mission, unlike SELENE, which is intended to orbit the moon.
It canceled another moon shot, LUNAR-A, that was to have been launched in 2004 but had been repeatedly postponed due to mechanical and fiscal problems.