It is not certain when Japan started its initiative of lunar exploration. However, it was in the beginning through middle of the 1980' that the basic plan for the LUNAR-A and SELENE projects to be launched in the beginning of the 21st century was set to work in earnest.

Ever since the 1970s, Japanese scientists and engineers have been pursuing various possibilities of lunar exploration and its exploitation. A variety of data collected through Apollo Project were made public one after another, stimulating researches at institutes and universities in Japan. Lively discussion took place in every public occasions including academic symposium. Indeed, numerous papers, reports and books on the Moon were published in those days, laying the basis for the current lunar exploration projects.

In 1990, as if encouraged by this trend, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science launched a scientific satellite No. 13 (MUSES-A) named "Hiten" in Jan. 1990 for the purpose of establishing the technologies including satellite trajectory control, which would be required for the future lunar and planetary exploration projects. Hiten completed its mission successfully.

Later in July 1994, the Space Activities Commission developed its "Long-term Vision" declaring that the "Moon" is one of the main targets of the national space development.
This announcement of the long-term vision, clarifying that wide-ranging possibilities of the Moon would be pursued by organizing all the national resources, was a strong impetus to the realization of SELENE Project, which is a joint mission by National Space Development Agency of Japan and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. Thereafter SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (SELENE) project has made steady progress from the "research" stage to the "development and research" stage, and up to the "full-scale development" stage of the "Space Development Plan".