Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Orbit Insertion

  • Released Friday, May 8, 2009
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This visualization shows an example of how the orbit insertion for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) might look. LRO launches from Cape Canaveral, then flies around the Earth and on to the moon. Time speeds up during the journey to the moon, then slows again as LRO approaches the moon. LRO begins orbiting the moon and, through a series of several "burns", moves in closer to its desired orbit. LRO's initial orbit plane around the moon is parallel to the direction of the moon's travel.

This visualization was created before launch using simulated ephemeris data. The ephemeris data driving this visualization was based on a simulated nighttime launch on 11/24/2008; but, the actual launch may happen during the daytime.

A stereoscopic version of this visualization can be found HERE. For more information on the coodinate systems in the animation see HERE.

LRO orbit insertion with elapsed time since launch

LRO orbit insertion without elapsed time since launch

LRO launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida

LRO launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida

LRO in transit to the moon

LRO in transit to the moon

LRO approaches the moon

LRO approaches the moon

LRO during lunar orbit insertion

LRO during lunar orbit insertion

LRO in elliptical orbit around the moon

LRO in elliptical orbit around the moon

LRO's orbit gets closer to circular around the moon

LRO's orbit gets closer to circular around the moon

LRO's orbit gets even closer to circular around the moon

LRO's orbit gets even closer to circular around the moon

LRO's orbit nearly circular around the moon

LRO's orbit nearly circular around the moon

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/lro

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio Simulated ephemeris data from Mark Beckman

This page was originally published on Friday, May 8, 2009.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 12:00 AM EST.

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions:

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Tapes

This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • LRO Pre-Launch Resource Tape (ID: 2009030)
    Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 4:00AM
    Produced by - Andy Acuna (Hughes STX)

Datasets used in this visualization

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.