LRO's Project Site

Artist concept of LRO

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

Artist concept of LCROSS

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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Featured Stories

artist concept of lro

@LRO_NASA Surpasses 100k Twitter Followers

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has acquired more than 100,000 followers on Twitter. LRO joined Twitter on May 29, 2008.

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photograph of 2003 lunar eclipse

LRO to Observe 2011's Final Lunar Eclipse

LRO will get a moon-based perspective on the final lunar eclipse of 2011, which occurs on December 10.

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Mission News

    LRO Resources
    › 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.

Imagery from the LRO Camera

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LRO Tweets

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