LRO Reveals the Moon's Complex Youth

Analysis from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) topographic map of the Moon featured in the most recent issue of Science (subscription required) points to the Moon’s “complex, turbulent youth,” according to a NASA press release.

Using new data from the LRO’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment Instrument, scientists have been studying the geologic processes that formed the lunar surface and the history of numerous meteoric impacts that considerably transformed the landscape. According to the release, “a rich record of craters is preserved on the Moon,” data which is hoped will help researchers uncover the implications of such early activity on the Earth and other bodies in the Solar System.

This milestone marks completion of the spacecraft’s one-year exploration mission and its transition to a science phase, expected to last from two to four more years. Program management has now been moved from NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate to the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.