This year the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter celebrates 13 years
of orbit around our Moon.
And in that time, it has collected over a petabyte of data -
the largest volume ever collected
by a planetary science mission at NASA.
Due to its success and continued operational abilities,
NASA has awarded the spacecraft an additional
extended mission phase so that it can continue
gathering critical information on the Moon
and help pave the way for future lunar missions.
Going forward, the LRO mission will have four main areas of focus.
The first is the study of volatiles, which are chemicals
that easily evaporate or vaporize, such as water.
In terms of lunar exploration, volatiles will be useful
for things like creating rocket fuel
and making oxygen to breathe.
So they are a primary resource
that future astronauts will depend on having.
LRO will continue to provide new data for identifying which areas
are rich in volatiles, and for clueing us in to how they may
move around the lunar surface.
Current LRO data suggests they may be frozen in
permanently shadowed craters, in areas that receive some sunlight,
and may be chemically locked in minerals on the Moon.
This is helping pave the way for future missions like VIPER,
which will send a robotic rover to explore an area near
the lunar South Pole,
and ultimately, the astronaut-led Artemis missions.
The second area of focus is on the Moon’s interior,
volcanic features and the tectonics of the Moon’s surface –
because understanding the lunar surface requires knowledge
of what’s been going on underneath.
Scientists want to figure out when the Moon
was last volcanically active, and how current geologic processes,
like moonquakes, could affect the safety of future exploration.
They’ll do these things by studying lobate scarps,
as well as deep crustal and mantle composition
that are exposed at the surface.
Studying the Moon’s history of volcanism and tectonics
will also inform us about other planetary bodies
in our solar system and beyond.
The third area of focus is on the Moon’s surface –
its regolith and impact craters.
We want to know how impact craters break down,
and if different ejected materials might degrade at different rates.
These studies will give us a better understanding of the mineral
and chemical makeup of the lunar surface and subsurface.
This information can tell us how the Moon has changed
over hundreds of millions, or billions of years.
Studying the Moon’s regolith and impact craters
also informs scientists about space weathering,
which can help similar studies looking at the Earth,
as well as on places like Mars, Mercury, or even asteroids.
The last focus area for LRO going forward
is support for future missions.
NASA has plans for numerous missions to go
to the lunar surface during LRO’s extended phase.
Sending missions to the lunar surface requires planning,
not only to build the mission,
but to find safe and interesting landing sites.
LRO is in a unique position to directly assist
with some of those operations and science objectives.
LRO can help identify landing sites by making maps
that tell us what the surface is like,
where there may be hazards to landers,
and where there are interesting features to explore.
LRO is also capable of helping landed missions
get simultaneous measurements from orbit
while they gather data from the surface.
After studying the Moon for 13 years, LRO has proven to be
one of NASA’s most valuable tools for advancing lunar science.
And as it continues collecting data, the spacecraft helps
lead the way for future exploration of our Moon.