LCROSS Project Site

Artist concept of LCROSS

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in California, launched with LRO on June 18, 2009. LCROSS will search for water ice in a permanently shadowed crater near one of the moon's poles.

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LRO Mission Site

Artist concept of LRO

Learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from the mission Web site maintained by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

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LCROSS Observation Campaign

The Keck Observatories in Hawaii.

View the LCROSS impacts on the surface of the moon. Join the LCROSS Observation Campaign!

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Latest Updates on LCROSS

Mission News

    Mosaics of Lunar Swingby Images

    A preliminary mosaic of images from the far-side of the moon taken by the LCROSS visible light camera. The images were taken during the mission¹s lunar swingby on June 23, 2009 as the spacecraft flew from the South Pole north. The mosaic shows the three specific craters, Mendeleev, Goddard C and Giordano Bruno, and the limb targets imaged to calibrate the LCROSS science instruments. The images were obtained from a range of approximately 8500 ­ 9500 km and the approximate resolution in the visible camera is about 8-10 km/pixel.

    Credit: NASA Ames Research Center



    A preliminary mosaic of images from the far-side of the moon taken by the LCROSS the mid-infrared camera. These are the first thermal images of the far-side of the moon. The images were taken during the mission¹s lunar swingby on June 23, 2009 as the spacecraft flew from the South Pole north.

    Credit: NASA Ames Research Center



    The image is an overlay of thermal and visible mosaics from the lunar swingby on June 23, 2009 as the spacecraft flew from the South Pole north. The images were obtained from a range of approximately 8500 ­ 9500 km and the approximate resolution in the visible camera is about 8-10 km/pixel, while the resolution in the thermal image is about 12-15 km /pixel.
    Credit: NASA Ames Research Center

News and Features

  • One of the first images from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) using the visible light camera during the swingby of the moon.

    NASA Moon Impactor Completes Lunar Maneuver

    The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, successfully completed its most significant early mission milestone Tuesday with a lunar swingby and calibration of its science instruments.

  • NASA Successfully Launches Lunar Impactor

    NASA successfully launched the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, Thursday on a mission to search for water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the moon's south pole.

LCROSS Lunar Swingby

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LCROSS Video

LCROSS Images

Test Your Knowledge

    LCROSS will search for evidence of ____ near a lunar pole.

    Water vapor
    Apollo-era hardware
    Water ice
    Alien life
    Answer