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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

active
Science ExplorationcislunarCOSPAR 2009-031ALaunched 6/18/2009
Admin Edit
Mission & Launch
Launch Mission
LRO/LCROSS
Launch Vehicle
Atlas V 401
Launch Date
6/18/2009
Orbit & Mass
Orbit Class
cislunar
Altitude
176,947 km
Inclination
28.2 deg
Dry Mass
1,018 kg
Total Mass
1,916 kg
Payload Classification
Mission Type
Science Exploration
Payload Category
PLAN
Payload Class
C
Organizations
Operator
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Manufacturer
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Registry
COSPAR ID
2009-031A
UN Registration
ST/SG/SER.E/573
Track
Mentions
56
All verified mentions of this spacecraft in source documents.
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Actions

After several attempts, CAPSTONE established a crosslink with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to test the CAPS navigation capability.

CapabilityValue 4.0Jul 24, 2023CAPSTONE working well more than a year after launch

Goonhilly Earth Station validated lunar telemetry and tracking capabilities for IM-1 by successfully acquiring and tracking NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in an exercise with Intuitive Machines personnel.

Capability
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General
Value 4.0
Jul 17, 2023
Goonhilly Earth Station to demo UK commercial space comms for 2023 Lunar and solar missions

ISRO selected the Chandrayaan-3 prime landing site using high-resolution photographs and data from Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

CapabilityGeneralValue 4.0Jul 14, 2023India launches Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing mission

A NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image released on 2023-05-23 revealed the HAKUTO-R M1 impact site and apparent pieces of debris from the spacecraft.

CapabilityValue 3.5May 26, 2023Software problem blamed for ispace lunar lander crash

Advanced Space demonstrated the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) by collecting crosslink measurements between CAPSTONE and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on 2023-05-09.

CapabilityGeneralValue 4.2May 18, 2023NASA’s CAPSTONE primary mission successfully completed by Advanced Space

CAPSTONE operators attempted a 2023-01-18 crosslink test with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter during which LRO received a signal from CAPSTONE but CAPSTONE did not collect ranging measurements from the returned signal.

PlanCapabilityValue 4.0Feb 10, 2023Lunar cubesats encounter technical problems

CAPSTONE will test autonomous navigation software called CAPS, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System, using direct measurements with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

PlanCapabilityValue 4.0Jun 24, 2022A tiny spacecraft the size of a microwave could pave the way for a station between Earth and the moon

The landing site selection paper uses Mini-RF synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter combined with optical images and high-resolution digital elevation models to find flat areas within Shackleton and Shoemaker craters.

CapabilityGeneralValue 3.5May 27, 2022China targets permanently shadowed regions at lunar south pole

CAPSTONE will test a navigation system developed by Advanced Space that measures its absolute position in cislunar space using interaction with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

CapabilityPlanValue 4.0May 4, 2022Rocket Lab Supporting NASA’s Human Mission Return To The Moon

Chandrayaan-2 performed a collision avoidance maneuver on 2021-10-18 to avoid a predicted close approach to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter two days later.

PlanGeneralValue 3.8Dec 4, 2021India’s Chandrayaan-2 maneuvered to avoid close approach to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter released images of the Chandrayaan-2 crash site on 2019-12-02.

GeneralPlanValue 4.2Jan 1, 2020India confirms plans for second lunar lander mission

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was scheduled to observe the Vikram landing site on 2019-09-17.

PlanValue 4.0Sep 17, 2019Lunar lander failures offer a warning to commercial missions

There was coordination between NASA and the Chinese government regarding plans for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to take high-resolution images of the Chang’e-4 landing site on the far side of the moon earlier 2019.

PlanCapabilityValue 3.5Apr 8, 2019New opportunities emerging for U.S.-China space cooperation

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter passed 330 km east of the Chang’e-4 landing site on 2019-01-30 and returned an oblique image of the Von Kármán crater and the Chang’e-4 lander.

CapabilityGeneralPlanValue 4.0Feb 11, 2019Chang’e-4 powers down for second lunar night

The Commercial Lunar Payload Services program will fund the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in fiscal year 2019.

FinancialPlanValue 4.0Dec 10, 2018NASA lunar orbiter now supporting commercial and international missions

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2009.

PlanValue 2.5Dec 10, 2018NASA lunar orbiter now supporting commercial and international missions