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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 × | 🇮🇳 Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter Chandrayaan-2 Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Remove × | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | ESA | NASA | ISRO |
| Status | Deorbited | Mission Complete | Active |
| Mission type | Orbiter | Orbiter | Orbiter-Lander |
| Launch date | 2003-09-27 | 2013-09-06 | 2019-07-22 |
| End date | 2006-09-03 | 2014-04-17 | Active |
| Orbit | Polar orbit ~300 × 3,000 km (spiraled from GTO over 14 months using ion drive) | Low equatorial orbit ~50 km (primary); final phase 2-5 km altitude | ~100 km circular polar orbit |
| Mass | 367 kgas of [1] | 383 kgas of [1] | 2,379 kgas of [1]Combined orbiter (2,379 kg) + Vikram lander (1,471 kg) + Pragyan rover (27 kg) at launch; lander crashed Sep 2019 ↑ Heaviest |
| Instruments | 4 instrumentsas of [1]AMIE camera, SIR near-IR spectrometer, D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer, XSM X-ray solar monitor | 3 science instruments + 1 tech demoas of [1] ↑ Most instruments | 8 instrumentsas of [1]Dual Frequency SAR, IIRS, TMC2, CLASS, OHRC, CHACE-2, DFRS, VELC |
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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. | NASA Discovery-class orbiter that characterized the tenuous lunar atmosphere (exosphere) and dust environment. LADEE's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration achieved 622 Mbps download from lunar orbit — a record at the time. Controlled impact on the lunar far side on 17 April 2014. | The orbiter component continues functioning perfectly after the Vikram lander crash-landed on 7 September 2019. As of 2026, the orbiter's instruments are providing high-quality science data on the lunar surface composition and polar water-ice deposits. |
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.