Japan has taken a step closer towards its aim of sending men to the moon when earlier this month it successfully launched the biggest lunar mission since the US Apollo flights 40 years ago.
The Selenological and Engineering Explorer probe left its launch pad on Tanegashima island, about 600 miles south-west of Tokyo, aboard a H-2A solidfuel rocket.
A live internet broadcast tracked the rocket as it headed out over the Pacific Ocean before it separated from the lunar explorer over Chile about 45 minutes later.
A jubilant spokesperson for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said the probe's engines and navigation equipment were working normally on the craft - nicknamed Kaguya after the moon princess in a Japanese fairy tale. It is scheduled to twice orbit Earth before travelling the 237,500 miles to the moon, a journey that is expected to take about three weeks.
Kaguya, which comprises one threetonne main orbiter and two smaller 50kg satellites, will begin its 10-month observation mission in December, after instrument checks.
The successful launch of the 55bn yen Kaguya was greeted with relief among space officials. The agency was forced to cancel the planned launch of another lunar probe in 2004 after repeated mechanical and financial setbacks.
Kaguya's original launch last month had to be put back after several components were found to have been installed incorrectly.
"This is very good news," said a Jaxa spokesman. "Everyone here is excited about the prospect of receiving some very good data about the moon."
In the mission, which Jaxa described as the largest in scope since Nasa's Apollo programme, Kaguya's main satellite will go into orbit about 60 miles above the moon's surface, and two smaller satellites will be put into polar orbit.
The probes will collect data that Japanese scientists hope will settle the longrunning debate over the moon's origins and evolution. The orbiter, which is carrying 14 state-of-the-art pieces of equipment, will map previously unexplored polar areas, and a high-definition TV will send back what scientists believe will be dramatic images of the moon and of the Earth as it rises over the moon's horizon.
The successful launch helped dispel painful memories of Japan's troubled space programme, which reached its nadir in the mid-1990s following two unsuccessful launches of its previous rocket, the H-2.
In 2003, Jaxa was forced to destroy another rocket carrying two spy satellites after it veered off course just minutes after launch.
Although Jaxa officials are careful to play down talk of a space race with China, the Kaguya mission is a significant step towards plans to build a manned station on the moon by 2025, and a clear sign of renewed regional interest in lunar exploration.
China plans to send its Chang'e-1 probe to the moon later this year and plan to collect samples of dust in subsequent expeditions and reportedly hope to put a man on the moon in the next 15 years.
Japan's current mission is more advanced than those of its rivals. "The mission is broader in its scope than those of any other country," said the spokesperson. "Every one of the 14 pieces of equipment on board is vitally important.
"There is scientific demand for data on how the moon came into being, and we have to know more about the moon for us to realise our aim of building a manned base there by 2025."