A domestically developed rocket launched with no glitches from a small island in southern Japan at 10:31 am (0131 GMT) carrying the country's hopes of restoring pride in its troubled space programme.

The orbiter separated from the H-2A rocket about 45 minutes after it took off from the Space Centre on the island of Tanegashima, the space agency said.

"The launch was a success," declared Kaoru Mamiya, vice president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Tokyo.

"The probe detached from the rocket as expected 45 minutes after lift-off and all the subsequent phases were carried out correctly," added Yoshisada Takizawa, the head of the project.

The lunar orbiter, aiming to collect data for research of the moon's origin and evolution, will travel around the Earth before moving into an orbit of the moon in early October, officials said.

The agency says the one-year lunar mission, which is several years behind schedule due to technical mishaps, is the most extensive since the US Apollo programme began in the 1960s, putting the first astronaut on the moon.

The explorer was named "Kaguya" after a beautiful princess who charms many men before ascending to her home, the moon, in a popular Japanese folk tale.

The 55-billion-yen (478-million-dollar) probe will consist of a main unit, which will orbit 100 kilometres (60 miles) above the moon, and two small satellites.

It will gather data on the distribution of chemical elements and minerals as well as on topographical and surface structures.

The mission aims to study the gravity field and environment of the moon while searching for hydrogen, which is required to for water.

"Japan aims to build a station on the surface of the moon in 2025 and so we need to understand the moon. We need to develop the fundamental technology," said Satoki Kurokawa, another spokesman for the agency.

Japan has been expanding its space operations and has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.

It faced an embarrassing failure in November 2003, when it had to destroy a rocket carrying a spy satellite 10 minutes after lift-off because a booster failed to separate.

The setback came just a month after neighbouring China became the third country to carry out a manned space mission. China is pressing ahead with a programme that includes space walks and dockings.

With the lunar orbiter, Japan hopes to keep the country one step ahead of China and other regional rivals like India, which are also expected to launch similar probes in coming months.

"This programme is very important for science throughout the world. If it is completed successfully, it will push back the frontiers of humanity beyond Earth and heighten Japan's technological status," said Hajime Inoue, director of space research at JAXA.

China is expected to launch its Chang'e 1 probe as early as this month, to be followed by India's Chandrayaan 1 later this year. NASA is expected to send up its own Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in late 2008.

"China and India's scope of observation is different from ours," Kurokawa said. "They do not plan to focus on gravitational attraction, surface layer and magnetic pull -- three areas I think Kaguya can excel in."

Some experts, however, are cautious about the prospects for the Japanese mission.

"I'm sure technical difficulties will pop up which will be the first thing scientists will have to deal with," said Jun Nishimura, professor emeritus of space physics at Tokyo University, who questioned whether the mission would be able to complete all its research in one go.

"Technical sticking points will surface and solving them will pave the way for improvements," he said.

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