Category
page 1Space probes launched in 2009
Kepler Space Telescope
defunct NASA space telescope
Herschel Space Observatory
former ESA space observatory
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA robotic spacecraft orbiting the Moon
Planck
former ESA space observatory
LCROSS
The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was a robotic spacecraft operated by NASA. The mission was conceived as a low-cost means of determining the nature of hydrogen detected at the polar regions of the Moon. Launched immediately after discovery of lunar water by Chandrayaan-1, the main LCROSS mission objective was to further explore the presence of water in the form of ice in a permanently shadowed crater near a lunar polar region. It was successful in confirming water in the southern lunar crater Cabeus.