Mission record
Lunar Prospector
Also known as Lunar Prospector Orbiter, LunarProspector
NASA-Office of Space Science · Launched
Explore trajectoryCompleted · Success
A NASA orbiter that surveyed the Moon's composition and polar hydrogen before being deliberately crashed into a south polar crater.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Athena 2
- Launch site
- Cape Canaveral, United States
- Countries
- United States
- Mission types
- Orbiter
Chronology
Mission timeline
Launch
Lunar Prospector launched aboard a three-stage Athena 2 rocket
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Lunar Prospector · Orbiter
Destinations: Moon
Trajectory record
Time-dependent navigation trajectory
Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.
Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.
- Lunar Prospector: Estimated · January 7, 1998 to July 30, 1999
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 11, 2026
- Lunar Prospector - NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog — NSSDCAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Lunar Prospector Mission Handbook, LMMS/P458481, 10 April 1998 — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector final cumulative spacecraft attitude and spin-rate records — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Lunar Prospector Science Interface Specification, March 1998 — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector first-day command history, DSS16 — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- JPL Lunar Prospector gravity-recovery SPK archive — NAIFArchive · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector final Level 0 archive errata, 11 October 1999 — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector Ground System Software, LMMS/P4583022D, 1 February 1998 — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector Flight Dynamics Interface Control Document, Appendix C — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector definitive ephemeris PDS dataset profile — NASAEphemeris · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector June 25 1998 uplink command session C9817627 — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector JPL gravity navigation SPK 1: lp_ask_980111-980531.bsp — NAIFEphemeris · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector JPL gravity navigation SPK 2: lp_ask_980601-981031.bsp — NAIFEphemeris · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector JPL gravity navigation SPK 3: lp_ask_981101-990331.bsp — NAIFEphemeris · Supports: mission claims
- Lunar Prospector JPL gravity navigation SPK 4: lp_ask_990401-990730.bsp — NAIFEphemeris · Supports: mission claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context