![]() Launch was rescheduled for June 17, 2009, because of the delay in a priority military launch, and happened one day later, on June 18. Launch was planned for October 2008, but this slid to April as the spacecraft underwent testing in a thermal vacuum chamber. ![]() Its mission duration was planned for one year, but has since been extended numerous times after review by NASA.Īfter completing a preliminary design review in February 2006 and a critical design review in November 2006, the LRO was shipped from Goddard to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on February 11, 2009. ĭeveloped at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, LRO is a large (1,916 kg/ Template:Convert/round lb ) and sophisticated spacecraft. The total cost of the mission is reported as US$583 million, of which $504 million pertains to the main LRO probe and $79 million to the LCROSS satellite. LRO and LCROSS were launched as part of the United States's Vision for Space Exploration program. Launched on June 18, 2009, in conjunction with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), as the vanguard of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program, LRO was the first United States mission to the Moon in over ten years. The first images from LRO were published on July 2, 2009, showing a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium ( Sea of Clouds). The probe has made a 3-D map of the Moon's surface and has provided high resolution images of Apollo landing sites. ![]() Its detailed mapping program is identifying safe landing sites, locating potential resources on the Moon, characterizing the radiation environment, and demonstrating new technologies. Data collected by LRO is essential to planning future human and robotic missions to the Moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ( LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. ![]()
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