Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite: mission and targets

Project start

June 18, 2009

Declared end

October 9, 2009

The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.

Targets you can open in 3D:

• Moon

A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.

LCROSS launched as a secondary payload with Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on June 18, 2009. After trans-lunar injection, LRO separated and performed its mission. The LCROSS Shepherding Spacecraft (SSC) remained attached to the spent Atlas upper stage, called the Centaur. Over 112 days, the Shepherding Spacecraft adjusted the Centaur's course to bring it to an impact within the Cabeus Crater near the South Pole of the moon. It impacted on October 9, 2009. LCROSS used the Centaur as a 2300 kg kinetic impactor with more than 200 times the energy of the Lunar Prospector (LP) impact to excavate more than 250 metric tons of lunar regolith. The resulting ejecta cloud was observed from a number of Lunar-orbital and Earth-based assets, and the LCROSS spacecraft. After releasing the Centaur, the SSC flew toward the impact plume, sending real-time data to characterize the morphology, evolution and composition of the plume with a suite of cameras and spectrometers. The SSC then became a 700 kg impactor itself, providing a second opportunity to study the nature of the Lunar Regolith.

Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 4, 2026.

Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.lunar_crater_observation_and_sensing_satellite

NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on September 29, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/

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