Pick up to 4 missions to compare side-by-side. State lives in the URL — share the link and the comparison loads exactly as you left it.
Six nations have placed lunar orbiters since 2007 — a 4× increase in 15 years.
| Attribute | 🇰🇷 KPLO (Danuri) Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | 🇮🇳 Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter Chandrayaan-2 Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | CNSA | KARI / NASA | ISRO |
| Status | Mission Complete | Active | Active |
| Mission type | Orbiter | Orbiter | Orbiter-Lander |
| Launch date | 2010-10-01 | 2022-08-05 | 2019-07-22 |
| End date | 2012-12-13 | Active | Active |
| Orbit | 100 km circular polar orbit, later 15 km periapsis for Sinus Iridum imaging | 100 km circular polar orbit | ~100 km circular polar orbit |
| Mass | 2,480 kgas of [1] ↑ Heaviest | 678 kgas of [1] | 2,379 kgas of [1]Combined orbiter (2,379 kg) + Vikram lander (1,471 kg) + Pragyan rover (27 kg) at launch; lander crashed Sep 2019 |
| Instruments | 7 instrumentsas of [1] | 6 instrumentsas of [1]LUTI, PolCam, KMAG, KGRS, LVND, ShadowCam (NASA contributed) | 8 instrumentsas of [1]Dual Frequency SAR, IIRS, TMC2, CLASS, OHRC, CHACE-2, DFRS, VELC ↑ Most instruments |
| Key findings |
|
|
|
| Outcome | Chang'e 2 far exceeded its primary mission. After completing its lunar mapping goals, it traveled to the Earth-Sun L2 point (first Chinese L2 mission), then flew past asteroid 4179 Toutatis at 3.2 km — the closest-ever asteroid encounter. Now in a heliocentric orbit, drifting beyond Mars. | South Korea's first lunar spacecraft, a joint KARI–NASA mission. The NASA-provided ShadowCam instrument has revealed unprecedented detail inside permanently shadowed polar craters that could host water-ice. The mission is on an extended science phase as of 2026. | The orbiter component continues functioning perfectly after the Vikram lander crash-landed on 7 September 2019. As of 2026, the orbiter's instruments are providing high-quality science data on the lunar surface composition and polar water-ice deposits. |
All 11 lunar orbital missions with primary-source citations from NASA, ESA, JAXA, ISRO, CNSA, and NASA NSSDCA. Coverage spans Clementine (1994) through LRO (active 2026). Pure URL state — bookmark or share the link and the comparison reproduces exactly.