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Planetary Geology, Geophysics & Geochemistry Lab
Operational

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is an unmanned spacecraft designed to create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's physical features, radiation environment, temperatures, and resources. The mission places special emphasis on the moon's polar regions, where permanently shadowed craters may contain significant amounts of water ice that future human explorers might be able to exploit. LRO launched on June 18, 2009.

Launch Date
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Flight Project
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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is an unmanned spacecraft designed to create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's physical features, radiation environment, temperatures, and resources. The mission places special emphasis on the moon's polar regions, where permanently shadowed craters may contain significant amounts of water ice that future human explorers might be able to exploit. LRO launched on June 18, 2009.

Related Publications

2026. "Near-infrared Hapke Photometric Analysis of the Moon’s Regolith with Passive Radiometry from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA).", The Planetary Science Journal, 7 (2): 43 [10.3847/psj/ae3b2c] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "Improving Lunar Topography with Deep Learning Schrödinger Bridges.", The Planetary Science Journal, 7 (6): 139 [10.3847/psj/ae6244] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "Enhanced Topography Models for Selected Lunar South Pole Regions with Shape-from-Shading.", The Planetary Science Journal, 7 (5): 118 [10.3847/psj/ae5b70] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "First Use of Laser Ranging to Surface Retroreflectors for Orbit Determination: LRO-LOLA at the Moon.", The Planetary Science Journal, 6 (10): 247 [10.3847/psj/ae0e0b] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Shallow Crustal Density in the Lunar South Polar Region.", The Planetary Science Journal, 6 (8): 191 [10.3847/psj/adf05f] [Journal Article/Letter]