NASA - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

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LRO's Project Site

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

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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 Web site below for more information about LCROSS and the crater impact.

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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.

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Top Story

Apollo 12 Landing Site

11.04.09

From a 50 km mapping orbit, LROC reveals more details of the Apollo 12 landing site.

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Apollo 17 Lunar Module Landing Site

10.28.09

The next pass over the Apollo 17 landing site resulted in images with more than two times better resolution than previously acquired.

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Mission News

Looking for information on LCROSS? Click here.

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

LRO Helps LCROSS With Crater Selection; Will Observe Impact

LRO has made detailed observations to support the LCROSS selection of a lunar south pole crater for its October 9 impact.
NASA Goddard Shoots the Moon to Track LRO

The laser ranging effort to track the LRO spacecraft produces distance measurements accurate to within about four inches over nearly 250,000 miles.
LRO Early Results Press Conference

NASA showcased new images from LRO's seven instruments and provided updates about the topography of the moon's south pole during a news conference on Sept. 17, 2009.
NASA Lunar Satellite Begins Detailed Mapping of Moon's South Pole

NASA reported Thursday that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed its testing and calibration phase and entered its mapping orbit of the moon.