Compare Lunar Orbiters

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.

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📊 Industry context

Six nations have placed lunar orbiters since 2007 — a 4× increase in 15 years.

Attribute	🇨🇳 Chang'e 2 (嫦娥二号) Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified 2026-06-01Remove ×	🇪🇺 SMART-1 (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology) Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified 2026-06-01Remove ×	🇯🇵 SELENE (Kaguya) SELenological and ENgineering Explorer Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified 2026-06-01Remove ×
Agency	CNSA	ESA	JAXA
Status	Mission Complete	Deorbited	Mission Complete
Mission type	Orbiter	Orbiter	Orbiter
Launch date	2010-10-01	2003-09-27	2007-09-14
End date	2012-12-13	2006-09-03	2009-06-10
Orbit	100 km circular polar orbit, later 15 km periapsis for Sinus Iridum imaging	Polar orbit ~300 × 3,000 km (spiraled from GTO over 14 months using ion drive)	100 km circular polar orbit (primary phase)
Mass	2,480 kgas of 2010-10-01^[1]	367 kgas of 2003-09-27^[1]	2,855 kgas of 2007-09-14^[1]Main orbiter (2,230 kg) + Rstar relay sub-satellite (53 kg) + VRAD sub-satellite (52 kg) ↑ Heaviest
Instruments	7 instrumentsas of 2010-10-01^[1]	4 instrumentsas of 2003-09-27^[1]AMIE camera, SIR near-IR spectrometer, D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer, XSM X-ray solar monitor	15 instrumentsas of 2007-09-14^[1] ↑ Most instruments
Key findings	• 7 m/pixel global lunar map — highest-resolution complete lunar map at the time • 1.5 m/pixel images of Sinus Iridum (future Chang'e 3 candidate landing site) • First Chinese spacecraft to reach Earth-Sun L2 point (April 2011) • Flyby of asteroid 4179 Toutatis at 3.2 km distance (December 2012)	• First ESA lunar orbiter; proved ion propulsion for interplanetary missions • Confirmed calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron distribution using X-ray fluorescence • Near-IR spectrometer mapped pyroxene and plagioclase mineralogy at global scale • Controlled impact in Lacus Excellentiae watched by Earth telescopes	• High-definition terrain camera (TC): global 10 m/pixel DEM covering 99% of the Moon • First direct detection of pure anorthosite on the near-side (LISM/MI data) • Gravity field mapped using 4-way Doppler ranging via Rstar/VRAD sub-satellites • Earth-rise movie in HD — first HD video from lunar orbit • Detected lava tubes and large sub-surface voids near Grail crater
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.	ESA's first mission to the Moon and Europe's first use of Hall-effect ion propulsion in deep space. SMART-1 took 14 months to spiral from GTO to lunar orbit using its ion engine, validating technology for future missions. Deliberately impacted the Moon's near side on 3 September 2006.	JAXA's flagship lunar orbiter, second only to LRO in scientific output. SELENE performed a controlled impact on the lunar near-side in June 2009, with the impact flash confirmed by ground telescopes. Its terrain camera produced the most complete global DEM of the Moon prior to LOLA/LRO.

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🇮🇳 Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter+

ISRO

Active

🇺🇸 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)+

🇺🇸 Clementine (DSPSE)+

About this tool

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.

📋 What changed recently

Jun 2026Updated KPLO/Danuri status and imagery data released by KARI in early 2026.
Jun 2026Updated LRO total years in operation to 17; revised total images to 1.5 million+.
Apr 2026Added Chandrayaan-2 orbiter mapping coverage update from ISRO's 2025–26 operations report.

Attribute

🇨🇳 Chang'e 2 (嫦娥二号)

Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ

Last verified 2026-06-01Remove ×

🇪🇺 SMART-1 (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology)

Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ

Last verified 2026-06-01Remove ×

🇯🇵 SELENE (Kaguya)

SELenological and ENgineering Explorer

Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ

Last verified 2026-06-01Remove ×

Agency

CNSA

ESA

JAXA

Status

Mission Complete

Deorbited

Mission Complete

Mission type

Orbiter

Launch date

2010-10-01

2003-09-27

2007-09-14

End date

2012-12-13

2006-09-03

2009-06-10

Orbit

100 km circular polar orbit, later 15 km periapsis for Sinus Iridum imaging

Polar orbit ~300 × 3,000 km (spiraled from GTO over 14 months using ion drive)

100 km circular polar orbit (primary phase)

Mass

2,480 kgas of 2010-10-01^[1]

367 kgas of 2003-09-27^[1]

2,855 kgas of 2007-09-14^[1]Main orbiter (2,230 kg) + Rstar relay sub-satellite (53 kg) + VRAD sub-satellite (52 kg)

↑ Heaviest

Instruments

7 instrumentsas of 2010-10-01^[1]

4 instrumentsas of 2003-09-27^[1]AMIE camera, SIR near-IR spectrometer, D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer, XSM X-ray solar monitor

15 instrumentsas of 2007-09-14^[1]

↑ Most instruments

Key findings

• 7 m/pixel global lunar map — highest-resolution complete lunar map at the time
• 1.5 m/pixel images of Sinus Iridum (future Chang'e 3 candidate landing site)
• First Chinese spacecraft to reach Earth-Sun L2 point (April 2011)
• Flyby of asteroid 4179 Toutatis at 3.2 km distance (December 2012)

• First ESA lunar orbiter; proved ion propulsion for interplanetary missions
• Confirmed calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron distribution using X-ray fluorescence
• Near-IR spectrometer mapped pyroxene and plagioclase mineralogy at global scale
• Controlled impact in Lacus Excellentiae watched by Earth telescopes

• High-definition terrain camera (TC): global 10 m/pixel DEM covering 99% of the Moon
• First direct detection of pure anorthosite on the near-side (LISM/MI data)
• Gravity field mapped using 4-way Doppler ranging via Rstar/VRAD sub-satellites
• Earth-rise movie in HD — first HD video from lunar orbit
• Detected lava tubes and large sub-surface voids near Grail crater

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.

ESA's first mission to the Moon and Europe's first use of Hall-effect ion propulsion in deep space. SMART-1 took 14 months to spiral from GTO to lunar orbit using its ion engine, validating technology for future missions. Deliberately impacted the Moon's near side on 3 September 2006.

JAXA's flagship lunar orbiter, second only to LRO in scientific output. SELENE performed a controlled impact on the lunar near-side in June 2009, with the impact flash confirmed by ground telescopes. Its terrain camera produced the most complete global DEM of the Moon prior to LOLA/LRO.