This NASA probe has revealed breathtaking views of the moon for 14 years. How long will it last?

Round and round: NASA’s veteran Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the moon since it first entered lunar orbit in June 2009.

Over the 14 years since its launch, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has produced proven images and data that have transformed our understanding of Earth’s celestial neighbor.

While the old craft remains on the mission now helping chart where NASA’s Artemis astronauts will make their way through certain regions of the lunar south pole, how long will this venerable orbiter last?

Related: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: A Guide to NASA’s Venerable Lunar Orbiter

Operational health

Mark Robinson is the principal investigator for LRO’s super-powered Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC for short).

Robinson told Space.com that the big limiting factor on LRO’s operational health, other than a catastrophic failure of one of its moving parts, is the life of the spacecraft’s batteries. “They don’t last forever,” he said, adding that these batteries are indispensable during eclipses that deplete solar array power as LRO hurtles around the moon.

As for the onboard propellant, the orbiter does not fly on fumes. On the fuel side, LRO is expected to stay in good shape for several years, Robinson said. The aircraft began its fifth extended mission in October 2022 and ground controllers have gotten very smart in handling LRO fuel, he said.

technicians assemble a satellite in a clean room

Lunar Scenario Library

LRO’s long and continuous service tour around the moon has produced a huge library of photographs, revealing the lunar scenery from different angles and lighting conditions.

“There has been a surprising and unexpected scientific comeback,” Robinson added, such as the discovery of new impact craters. Also, coupled with the forensic investigation equipment on board, a big surprise from LRO is the flipping of the lunar upper regolith, a process that is happening much faster than previously thought.

Then there’s data collected by LRO that could point to more recent volcanic activity on the moon than conventional wisdom suggests, and perhaps explosions in the future. “It’s controversial, but it’s fun,” Robinson said.

Recently, LRO images have been used to help pinpoint the best places to shoot down robotic assets, including locating debris from the crash of the Japanese company’s Ispace lunar lander, Hakuto-R, after it plummeted until its fall on 25 April. Thanks to the images taken years earlier by the LRO of the accident area, a before/after distinction made it possible to locate the wreck.

a close-up of the moon's surface as seen from space — a close-up of the moon’s surface as seen from space

Make the difference

On a more positive note, LRO’s resolving power can help track future lunar rover shipments and help pinpoint promising locations that maximize the return of science, Robinson said. “We are currently collecting observations of all potential Artemis [human] the landing regions, 13 of them,” he said, “and NASA and the scientific community are asking to go to specific places that are much more challenging, landing-wise.”

Additionally, LRO data is being used to build digital terrain models for several American companies that will deliver equipment to the lunar surface through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

“It’s quite gratifying to hear that you’re making a difference scientifically, as well as from an exploration or engineering perspective,” said Robinson. “I like to imagine an astronaut with a display unit on his spacesuit arm, looking at our LRO data so he can see what’s beyond the next hill.”

On the other hand, at some point, LRO will no longer exist.

“I’ll be sad at first, but then maybe relieved. It’s been a big responsibility and a lot of work for the LRO team,” said Robinson. “There are lifetimes of data to analyze. I will have more time to work with all the information that LRO has produced.”

a map of the lunar surface with 13 proposed landing sites

What’s next?

“LRO is currently funded to operate through September 2025, the end of our current extended mission. We plan to propose a sixth extension, which would fund operations from 2025 to 2028,” said Noah Petro, LRO deputy project scientist at the Goddard NASA Center Space Flight and new project scientist for the Artemis 3 mission.

Petro said all LRO systems are showing “pretty degradation,” but nothing is expected to impact its ability to continue collecting data.

Meanwhile, NASA is funding a mission concept study to think about what a post-LRO orbital mission might look like.

Called the Lunar Exploration Science Orbiter (LExSO), Petro said it was an option being considered to fill the gap left once LRO’s mission concludes, “and we expect any solutions to address the agency’s priorities, including science goals.” and exploratory”.

Next Generation Observations

“I feel strongly that planning and implementing the next generation of orbital observations of the moon is essential,” said Carle Pieters, a noted lunar researcher at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

The accumulated LRO digital images document how the current lunar surface changes, albeit slowly. “A number of modern sensors are also now available to provide further details about the physical and compositional character of materials on the surface and how properties change with time of day,” Pieters told Space.com, data that is especially important for space science. evolving investigations in lunar water ice.

The data provided by these sensors will be difficult to replace once the LRO reaches the end of its useful life.