Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a robotic lunar orbiter that maps the Moon in high resolution, characterizes its environment, and supports safe landing-site and exploration planning. Its integrated monopropellant hydrazine propulsion system uses twelve catalytic thrusters: four approximately 80 N insertion thrusters and eight approximately 20 N attitude-control thrusters. The system supports lunar orbit capture, circularization, maintenance, trajectory changes, and reaction-wheel momentum dumping.
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Identity
- Aliases
- LROLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
- Family Name
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Full Name
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
- Roles
- orbiterresearch
- Status
- active
- Type
- spacecraft
Details
- Description
- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a robotic lunar orbiter that maps the Moon in high resolution, characterizes its environment, and supports safe landing-site and exploration planning. Its integrated monopropellant hydrazine propulsion system uses twelve catalytic thrusters: four approximately 80 N insertion thrusters and eight approximately 20 N attitude-control thrusters. The system supports lunar orbit capture, circularization, maintenance, trajectory changes, and reaction-wheel momentum dumping.
- First Flight Year
- 2,009
- Last Flight Year
- 2,009
- Manufacturer
- Operator
- Programs
- -
- Propulsion Configurations
- Entries
- Count
- 1
- Placement
- spacecraft
- Propulsion System
- Role
- maneuvering
- Stage
- spacecraft
- Variant Notes
- One LRO hydrazine propulsion system with four approximately 80 N insertion thrusters and eight approximately 20 N attitude-control thrusters.
- Name
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter hydrazine propulsion installation
- Notes
- NASA documents twelve catalytic hydrazine thrusters divided between four insertion thrusters and eight attitude-control thrusters. Count 1 represents the complete installed lunar-orbiter propulsion system.
- Spacecraft Specs
- Launch Mass Kg
- 1,850
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lro/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 31, 2026 at 04:57:50 UTC
- Updated Time
- September 8, 2026 at 00:34:01 UTC