NASA - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

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Connect with LRO

LRO's Project Site

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

› Visit the site

LCROSS Web Site

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.

› Visit the site

Destination: Moon

Learn all about NASA's journey back to the moon by reading this four-part series, authored by Dr. Paul Lowman, of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

› Read the series

Mission News

LRO Sends its First Lunar Images to Earth

LRO image of the moon

This image shows a cratered region near the moon's Mare Nubium region. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has transmitted its first images since reaching the moon on June 23. The spacecraft's two cameras, collectively known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, were activated June 30. The cameras are working well and have returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds).

As the moon rotates beneath LRO, LROC gradually will build up photographic maps of the lunar surface.

› View LRO's first images
› Read the press release

Additional Resources
› LRO Fact Sheet
› LRO Lithograph
› LRO/LCROSS Press Kit

Five Things to Know about LRO

LRO is leading NASA’s way back to the moon.
The primary objective of LRO is to conduct investigations that prepare for future lunar exploration. Specifically LRO will scout for safe and compelling landing sites, locate potential resources (with special attention to the possibility of water ice) and characterize the effects of prolonged exposure to the lunar radiation environment. In addition to its exploration mission, LRO will also return rich scientific data that will help us to better understand the moon’s topography and composition.
Seven scientific instruments outfit LRO. These instruments will return lunar imagery, topography, temperature measurements and more.
Launched along with LRO was the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), a partner mission that will search for water ice on the moon.
In response to LRO's "Send Your Name to the Moon" initiative, the spacecraft carries a microchip with nearly 1.6 million names submitted by the public. Click here to view a photo of the microchip containing the names as engineers prepare to install it on the spacecraft.

News and Features

NASA Lunar Mission Successfully Enters Moon Orbit

After a four and a half day journey from the Earth, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully entered orbit around the moon.
NASA Returning to the Moon with First Lunar Launch in a Decade

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launched at 5:32 p.m. EDT Thursday aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.