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 | 🇪🇺 SMART-1 (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology) Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | 🇰🇷 KPLO (Danuri) Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | 🇺🇸 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)Active · Last updated 2026-06-01 Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × |
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| Agency | ESA | KARI / NASA | NASA |
| Status | Deorbited | Active | Active |
| Mission type | Orbiter | Orbiter | Orbiter |
| Launch date | 2003-09-27 | 2022-08-05 | 2009-06-18 |
| End date | 2006-09-03 | Active | Active |
| Orbit | Polar orbit ~300 × 3,000 km (spiraled from GTO over 14 months using ion drive) | 100 km circular polar orbit | Polar low lunar orbit ~50 km (average) |
| Mass | 367 kgas of [1] | 678 kgas of [1] | 1,916 kgas of [1]Includes Diviner, LOLA, LROC, MiniRF, LAMP, LEND, CRaTER instruments ↑ Heaviest |
| Instruments | 4 instrumentsas of [1]AMIE camera, SIR near-IR spectrometer, D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer, XSM X-ray solar monitor | 6 instrumentsas of [1]LUTI, PolCam, KMAG, KGRS, LVND, ShadowCam (NASA contributed) | 7 instrumentsas of [1] ↑ Most instruments |
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| Outcome | 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. | 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. | 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.