Project

You will find much more information on the project at the Lunar Propector Home Page . There you will be able to read the latest status reports or browse the Frequently Asked Questions. They have hundreds of pictures of the spacecraft, the instruments, and even the world largest collection of lunar media in the world. !! Do not forget to visit that site !!

Lunar Prospector was launched to the Moon, Jan 6th, 1998. Its scientific goals are to answer long-standing questions about the Moon, its resources, its structure and its origins. Prospector will accomplish these goals during its primary one-year polar orbiting mission. Using a complement of five instruments, the mission will yield important science results at an unprecedented low cost.

Prospector is a NASA Discovery Mission. This new kind of mission places an emphasis on science and "Faster, Better, Cheaper" mission design and development. Lunar Prospector exemplifies these goals. It is a small, spin-stabilized craft that uses flight-qualified, modern technologies and instrumentation to ensure results and minimize risk. The design is simple: a small, graphite-epoxy drum (1.4m x 1.2m) with surface mounted solar cells and three 2.5m masts which carry the instruments and isolate them from the bus.