CRaTER on LRO

About LRO and CRaTER

LRO Science Payload

The CRaTER Team



NEW! An Exhibit about
CRaTER and LRO
at
the McAuliffe-Shepard
Discovery Ctr., Concord, NH.
More information...



LRO Quick Facts

• Launched June 18, 2009
• 4-day trip to the moon, then
   into commissioning orbit
• Science payload of 7
   instruments

• Data relayed in real-time to
   LRO satellite and teams
• LRO Mission Operations:
   NASA-Goddard SFC
• LRO Dimensions:
   79"(2m) x 103"(2.6m)
• LRO Mass: 1664 lb. (891 kg)
• Duration: 1yr. exploration;
   Possible 3yr. science mission

Where is LRO Now?

Historical Exploration of
the Moon …


Related Links
NASA LRO Mission
   - CRaTER Instrument
   - Diviner Instrument
   - LAMP Instrument
   - LEND Instrument
   - LOLA Instrument
   - LROC Instrument
   - Mini-RF Instrument


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Historical Exploration of the Moon

Our lunar missions will enable the pursuit of scientific activities that address fundamental questions about the history of the Earth and moon, the solar system and the universe, and about our place in them. They will allow us to test technologies, systems, flight operation, and exploration techniques that are applicable to future robotic and human missions.

 1609 Lippershey invented the telescope
 1610 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei made the first telescopic observation of the moon.
 1610 Thomas Harriot and Galilei drew first telescopic representation of the moon.
 1645 Michael Florent van Langren made first map of moon.
 1647 Johannes Hevelius published first treatise devoted to the moon
 1651 Giovanni Battista Riccioli named craters after philosophers and astronomers.
 1753 Roger Joseph Boscovich proved the moon has no atmosphere.
 1824 Franz von Gruithuisen thought craters were formed by meteor strikes.
 1920 Robert Goddard suggested sending rockets to the moon.
 1959 Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 reached the moon, impacting near the crater Autolycus.
 1961 President John F. Kennedy proposed a manned lunar program.
 1964 Ranger 7 produced the first close-up TV pictures of the lunar surface.
 1966 Luna 9 made the first soft landing on the moon.
 1967 Lunar Orbiter missions completed photographic mapping of the moon.
 1968 Apollo 8 made the first manned flight to the moon.
 1969 Apollo 11 mission made the first landing on the moon and returned samples.
 1972 Apollo 17 made the last manned landing of the Apollo Program.
 1976 Soviet Luna 24 returned the last sample of the moon.
 1990 Galileo spacecraft obtained multispectral images of the western limb and part of the far side of the moon.
 1994 Clementine mission conducted multispectral mapping of the moon.
 1998 Lunar Prospector launched.
 2004 NASA's Vision for Space Exploration unveiled.
 2007 Japanese SELENE (Kaguya) launched.
 2007 Chinese Chang'e 1 launched.
 2008 Indian Chandrayaan 1 launched.
 2009 NASA launches LRO/LCROSS

Historic Timeline Information excerpted from NASA's LRO-LCROSS Summary.