News Archive / Tagged: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

• NASA exploring options for navigating on the Moon

  Theresa CrossMarch 31st, 2021

  NASA is currently exploring a number of solutions for navigating and communicating on the Moon's surface for the Artemis program.

• NASA to send VIPER to prowl Moon’s South Pole

  Jason RhianOctober 28th, 2019

  If humanity is going to establish a long-term presence on the Moon, it's going to need water. This precious substance can be found on the lunar surface and a newly-announced robotic explorer is being readied to seek out significant concentrations of ice. If all goes according to plan, this mission marka critical first step for planned crewed missions.

• LRO identifies crash site of Beresheet lander

  Laurel KornfeldMay 22nd, 2019

  The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the crash site of SpaceIL's Beresheet lander, which impacted the Moon after a critical failure during its descent.

• Data reveals tectonic activity on the Moon

  Laurel KornfeldMay 15th, 2019

  New images captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal recent tectonic activity on the Moon in the form of "wrinkled" hills and shallow trenches.

• New observations help scientists understand lunar water cycle

  Cullen DesforgesMarch 23rd, 2019

  Recently, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter made an observation that could help scientists understand the water cycle present on the lunar surface.

• Crash Scene Investigation: Resting place of ESA’s first lunar mission found

  Tomasz NowakowskiOctober 17th, 2017

  By analyzing high-resolution images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), researchers have identified the final resting place of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first lunar mission, known as SMART-1. The spacecraft was deliberately crashed into the Moon 11 years ago.

• Lost Moon orbiter found using new radar technique

  Paul KnightlyMarch 14th, 2017

  NASA has spotted a lost spacecraft orbiting the Moon as well as its own Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter thanks to a newly developed radar technique.

• NASA: Opportunity, LRO missions funded through 2016

  Jason RhianJanuary 6th, 2016

  According to representatives with NASA, two planetary programs that were being eyed for the funding chopping block will be operated through 2016. Neither NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity nor the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was funded for 2016 under NASA's original budget request NASA's Opportunity rover and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will both be funded through 2016 – thanks to a funding increase in the FY 2016 Budget for the space agency – something the $1.27 billion "boost" NASA's budget received has rectified.

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographs Apollo landing sites

  Laurel KornfeldNovember 23rd, 2015

  NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), capable of descending as close as 31 miles (50 km) from the lunar surface, has photographed all six of the Apollo landing sites in unprecedented detail. The sites were chosen with the goal of exploring different geological terrains on the Moon's surface. All are located on the Moon's near side, which faces the Earth.

• NASA’s LRO shows effects of Earth’s gravity on the Moon

  Joe LatrellSeptember 21st, 2015

  Just as the Moon's gravity influences the Earth, the opposite is also true. A new report from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft shows that Earth's gravity has influenced the orientation of thousands of faults formed in the Moon's surface.

• NASA’s LRO discovers lunar hydrogen more abundant on Moon’s pole-facing slopes

  SpaceFlight InsiderFebruary 5th, 2015

  Traveling to space is difficult and extremely expensive. Even transporting something as simple as water to space is very costly. However, that could change. Recently, high abundances of hydrogen-rich molecules and possibly even water have been discovered on the Moon by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). This type of discovery is vital for the future of […]

• LRO discovers evidence of young lunar volcanism

  SpaceFlight InsiderOctober 13th, 2014

  With the help of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), researchers now have evidence indicating that widespread lunar volcanic activity has gradually slowed over time, as opposed to suddenly stopping about a billion years ago. LRO determined, after observing certain rock formations, that these samples were under 100 million years old. This time frame is roughly […]

• Our Spaceflight Heritage: LRO and LCROSS turn five!

  Heather SmithJune 18th, 2014

  On June 18, 2009 at 5:32 p.m. EDT, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket roared off the launch pad at Launch Complex 41. In so doing, it signaled the start of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)  missions to the Moon. The LRO and LCROSS spacecrafts […]

• NASA releases first interactive mosaic of lunar North Pole

  NASAMarch 18th, 2014

  Scientists, using cameras aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), have created the largest high resolution mosaic of our moon’s north polar region. The six-and-a-half feet (two-meters)-per-pixel images cover an area equal to more than one-quarter of the United States.

• NASA announces Commercial Lunar lander inititative

  Jason RhianJanuary 19th, 2014

  In an effort to further NASA’s increasing involvement with commercial companies, the space agency has announced that it is researching opportunities to have commercial companies develop spacecraft capable of landing on the Moon.