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Six nations have placed lunar orbiters since 2007 — a 4× increase in 15 years.
| Attribute | 🇺🇸 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)Active · Last updated 2026-06-01 Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | 🇪🇺 SMART-1 (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology) Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | NASA | ESA | NASA |
| Status | Active | Deorbited | Mission Complete |
| Mission type | Orbiter | Orbiter | Impactor |
| Launch date | 2009-06-18 | 2003-09-27 | 2009-06-18 |
| End date | Active | 2006-09-03 | 2009-10-09 |
| Orbit | Polar low lunar orbit ~50 km (average) | Polar orbit ~300 × 3,000 km (spiraled from GTO over 14 months using ion drive) | Elliptical shepherding orbit; impacted Cabeus crater |
| Mass | 1,916 kgas of [1]Includes Diviner, LOLA, LROC, MiniRF, LAMP, LEND, CRaTER instruments ↑ Heaviest | 367 kgas of [1] | 891 kgas of [1]LCROSS + Centaur upper stage (2,366 kg total impact); Centaur impacted first |
| Instruments | 7 instrumentsas of [1] | 4 instrumentsas of [1]AMIE camera, SIR near-IR spectrometer, D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer, XSM X-ray solar monitor | 9 instrumentsas of [1] ↑ Most instruments |
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| Outcome | NASA's comprehensive lunar scout, now 16+ years in orbit. LRO has produced the most detailed maps of the lunar surface ever made, identified water-ice at the poles, and characterized the radiation environment for future crewed missions. Its LROC camera system imaged the Apollo landing sites, Chinese Chang'e landers, and recent commercial missions including IM-1 Odysseus. | 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. | NASA's low-cost ($79M) impactor mission co-launched with LRO. The Centaur upper stage struck Cabeus crater on October 9, 2009, ejecting a plume of material that LCROSS analyzed as it flew through it before also impacting. This definitively confirmed water-ice in permanently shadowed craters — one of the most important planetary science results of the 2000s. |
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.