Japan will launch on Friday a satellite that will survey the moon for one year.

Regarded as the largest lunar mission since NASA's manned Apollo spaceflights ended in the early 1970s, the launch of the Kaguya lunar orbiter will seek to unveil the secrets of the Earth's nearest neighbor.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced Tuesday that Kaguya will lift off atop an H-2A rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center.

Named after a moon princess in a Japanese folktale, Kaguya will carry 14 primary scientific instruments to map the lunar surface and study its composition, subsurface and gravity field.

The 480-million dollar project marks the start of a regionwide race to the moon, as China is set to launch its own lunar probe satellite next month followed by India next year.