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 | 🇺🇸 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)Active · Last updated 2026-06-01 Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | NASA | CNSA | NASA |
| Status | Deorbited | Deorbited | Active |
| Mission type | Orbiter | Orbiter | Orbiter |
| Launch date | 1998-01-06 | 2007-10-24 | 2009-06-18 |
| End date | 1999-07-31 | 2009-03-01 | Active |
| Orbit | 100 km circular polar orbit (lowered to 15-30 km for extended mission) | 200 km circular polar orbit | Polar low lunar orbit ~50 km (average) |
| Mass | 158 kgas of [1]One of the smallest and lowest-cost ($63M) NASA lunar orbiters | 2,350 kgas of [1] ↑ Heaviest | 1,916 kgas of [1]Includes Diviner, LOLA, LROC, MiniRF, LAMP, LEND, CRaTER instruments |
| Instruments | 5 instrumentsas of [1] | 8 instrumentsas of [1] ↑ Most instruments | 7 instrumentsas of [1] |
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| Outcome | A low-cost ($63M) NASA Discovery mission that made one of the most important lunar discoveries of the late 20th century: strong evidence for water-ice at both poles. Deliberately impacted the lunar south pole at mission end; no detectable water plume was observed, but this was attributed to unfavorable geometry. | China's first lunar mission and the first spacecraft of the Chang'e programme. Operated for 16 months in lunar orbit, producing a complete 3D map of the Moon. Controlled impact on the lunar near-side on 1 March 2009. Demonstrated China's deep-space navigation and communications capability. | 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. |
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.