Latest Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Stories

On September 18, 2010 the world will join the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., as well as other NASA Centers to celebrate the first annual International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN)."InOMN provides the opportunity for the general public, our partners, and amateur astronomers to learn about lunar science and to view the Moon - many for the first time - through telescopes!" said Brooke Hsu, the Education and Public Outreach lead for the Lunar...

GREENBELT, Md., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The moon was bombarded by two distinct populations of asteroids or comets in its youth, and its surface is more complex than previously thought, according to new results from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft featured in three papers appearing in the Sept. 17 issue of Science. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) In the first paper,...

The moon was bombarded by two distinct populations of asteroids or comets in its youth, and its surface is more complex than previously thought, according to new results from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft featured in three papers appearing in the Sept. 17 issue of Science.In the first paper, lead author James Head of Brown University in Providence, R.I., describes results obtained from a detailed global topographic map of the moon created using LRO's Lunar Orbiter Laser...

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, will complete the exploration phase of its mission today, after a number of successes that transformed our understanding of Earth's nearest neighbor.LRO completed a one-year exploration mission in a polar orbit approximately 31 miles above the moon's surface. It produced a comprehensive map of the lunar surface in unprecedented detail; searched for resources and safe landing sites for potential future missions to the moon; and measured lunar...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, will complete the exploration phase of its mission on Sept. 16, after a number of successes that transformed our understanding of Earth's nearest neighbor. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) LRO completed a one-year exploration mission in a polar orbit approximately 31 miles above the moon's surface. It produced...

GREENBELT, Md., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. will host a free evening event at its Visitor Center on Saturday, Sept. 18 from 6:30 -10 p.m. EDT to celebrate the 2010 International Observe the Moon Night and the science results returned from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, which was built by NASA Goddard. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) (Logo:...

The moon is the Earth's nearest celestial neighbor and a geologic wonderland. There are mountains that are many miles high, lava flows several hundred miles long and enormous lava tubes and craters of every size. It is the brightest object in the night sky and has profoundly influenced the course of human civilization.For early humans, the moon provided lighting for hunting and defined when crops should be planted and harvested. Markings of lunar phases appear in cave paintings in France and...

GREENBELT, Md., Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Newly discovered cliffs in the lunar crust indicate the moon shrank globally in the geologically recent past and might still be shrinking today, according to a team analyzing new images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The results provide important clues to the moon's recent geologic and tectonic evolution. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) (Logo:...

A whole new world came to life for Alice when she followed the White Rabbit down the hole. There was a grinning cat, a Hookah-smoking caterpillar, a Mad Hatter, and much more. It makes you wonder... what's waiting down the rabbit-hole on the Moon? NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is beaming back images of caverns hundreds of feet deep -- beckoning scientists to follow."They could be entrances to a geologic wonderland," says Mark Robinson of Arizona State University,...

A highly detailed photograph released recently has views of a rare hole in the lunar surface, which is a pit large enough to swallow an entire football field whole. The Japanese Kaguya spacecraft's high-resolution cameras first spotted the hole, which is located in Mare Ingenii on the moon's southern hemisphere.  NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took this new, up-close photo of the moon pit from lunar orbit. Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter...