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 | 🇯🇵 SELENE (Kaguya) SELenological and ENgineering Explorer Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | 🇺🇸 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)Active · Last updated 2026-06-01 Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | JAXA | NASA | NASA |
| Status | Mission Complete | Active | Deorbited |
| Mission type | Orbiter | Orbiter | Orbiter |
| Launch date | 2007-09-14 | 2009-06-18 | 1998-01-06 |
| End date | 2009-06-10 | Active | 1999-07-31 |
| Orbit | 100 km circular polar orbit (primary phase) | Polar low lunar orbit ~50 km (average) | 100 km circular polar orbit (lowered to 15-30 km for extended mission) |
| Mass | 2,855 kgas of [1]Main orbiter (2,230 kg) + Rstar relay sub-satellite (53 kg) + VRAD sub-satellite (52 kg) ↑ Heaviest | 1,916 kgas of [1]Includes Diviner, LOLA, LROC, MiniRF, LAMP, LEND, CRaTER instruments | 158 kgas of [1]One of the smallest and lowest-cost ($63M) NASA lunar orbiters |
| Instruments | 15 instrumentsas of [1] ↑ Most instruments | 7 instrumentsas of [1] | 5 instrumentsas of [1] |
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| Outcome | 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. | 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. | 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. |
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.