Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter

Mission Profile

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA spacecraft launched on 18 June 2009 aboard an Atlas V 401 to map the lunar surface at the highest resolution ever achieved from orbit, supporting future crewed lunar landing site selection and science objectives. Its seven instruments including the LROC wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras, MiniRF radar, and DIVINER thermal radiometer have produced an unprecedented atlas of the Moon — mapping the entire surface at 100 meter resolution and selected areas at 50 centimeter resolution. LRO confirmed the presence of water ice in permanently shadowed polar craters, mapped hydrogen concentrations indicating subsurface ice deposits, and measured the extreme thermal environment that future astronauts will face. Now in its second decade of operations, LRO continues producing science as the most comprehensively characterized planetary body in the solar system beyond Earth.