Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The fate of Russia's failed Luna 25 Moon landing mission has been confirmed after NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) found a new impact crater at the estimated position of the lander's crash shortly before its attempted landing.

The Moon isn’t the most hospitable place, but that’s not stopping NASA from sending humans back there soon. Thankfully, an orbiter has now found a region of the Moon with year-round jeans-and-jacket weather – underground caves.

NASA has confirmed the Moon is a bit messier and a mystery has deepened after its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft discovered the double impact crater of a rocket booster that collided with the lunar surface on March 4, 2022.

Earth’s poles are famously icy places, but they’re far from alone in that regard. The poles of other planets and moons are often the best places to look for ice, and now a new analysis of NASA data has found evidence of much more water ice on the Moon and Mercury than previously thought.

The South Pole-Aitken basin on the Moon is the largest impact crater in the solar system, measuring about 2,500 km (1,550 mi) across at its widest point. And now scientists have detected something strange buried under the crater.

Earth’s closest natural satellite could be producing powerful moonquakes as it cools and shrinks, according to a newly-published study. The scientists behind the research analyzed data from instruments placed by Apollo-era astronauts and more recent data collected by a NASA spacecraft.

NASA has released a stunningly detailed 4K virtual tour of some of the Moon’s most fascinating and important features. Earth’s satellite is the only alien world ever to be visited by a crewed mission, and is likely to be revisited in the coming decades.

​In September 2006, the ESA's first lunar mission, SMART-1, ended when the probe was deliberately crashed into the Moon. The exact location of the craft’s final resting place wasn’t known, but now images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have found the telltale scars of the site.

​​The internet is alive with images of the spectacular solar eclipse on August 21, but here is one vantage point we haven't seen. As the darkness enveloped a huge swath of the United States, NASA's lunar orbiter snapped the Moon's shadow over around Nashville, Tennessee. ​

Analyzing data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have spotted bright areas on our moon which, they say, are likely being caused by frost. If they're right, the frozen water particles could be as old as the solar system itself and could provide clues about ancient water delivery.

Too small to be seen with optical telescopes, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft have been located found by ground-based radar stations using a pioneering radar technique that could help in planning future missions to the Moon.

NASA has released a stunning image of an Earthrise captured from the perspective of the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The bottom half of the image displays the bleak yet enchanting lunar surface, whilst the upper portion captures Earth's fragile disk swathed in white cloud.