Topic: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Strange features on Mercury upend thinking about 'first rock from sun'

New results from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft show Mercury to have features unlike anything scientists have seen elsewhere in the solar system. Here's one: a huge core for a planet this size.

How did the moon get there? NASA videos explain.

Images captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been used to create an animated 4-billion-year history of the moon.

Solar flare: Biggest in six years hits the Earth (+video)

Solar flare: The Sun is in an 11-year cycle of solar flare activity, with a peak next year.  Solar flares can disrupt power grids, satellites, oil pipelines and high-accuracy GPS systems

Obama's NASA budget: Mars takes a hit, but space science isn't dead

Two major Mars missions lost out to the James Web Space Telescope in Obama's proposed NASA budget, but there's still money for other ambitious space-science missions.

How Mercury is like Saturn (and other surprises from NASA's orbiter)

NASA's Messenger craft has been orbiting Mercury for 88 days. Among its findings: a Saturn-like magnetic field, high concentrations of sulfur, and some support for the notion there is water ice in shadowed craters.

Supermoon to make closest pass by Earth on Saturday

Supermoon: The moon will makes its closest approach to Earth on Saturday, appearing closer and larger to the naked eye. The last supermoon was eighteen years ago.

Moon's got water, yeah. But it's got other resource goodies, too.

Besides water, frigid craters at the moon's poles hold other resources that astronauts might be able to use to sustain lunar bases. There's even a bit of silver.

The moon as solar system's Rosetta stone?

New research suggests that two distinct groups of objects battered the surface of the moon – and could give clues into the early days of Earth's solar system.

Is the moon really a 'been there done that' world?

In the past year, we've learned that the moon is a very different place than what we had thought. Should we be so quick to disregard a manned mission?

Water on the moon: Eureka! They've found it!

NASA's sampling of a plume of material from a dark crater turns up water on the moon – and other organic compounds, too.

NASA moon 'bombing' a plunge into the mystery of lunar water

Two pieces of a NASA spacecraft – not bombs – will crash into the moon early Friday morning, hoping to kick up evidence of water ice at the bottom of a frigid south pole crater.

After moon bombing, search for water begins

With moon bombing mission over, NASA is sifting data to learn if polar craters hold water.

New evidence of water on the moon

Three probes, including a NASA instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, have detected water molecules in minerals on the moon's surface.

Coldest place in the solar system? Look to the moon.

Craters may hold evidence of Earth's history, and frozen ices at their floors could be valuable resources for lunar explorers.

How an amateur beat the pros in spotting Jupiter collision

With dedication and good timing, amateur astronomers have helped track asteroids and search for planets. NASA is enlisting some for a moon observation mission.

NASA heads back to the moon

The mission to gather data needed to put humans on the moon again launches Thursday evening. It includes slamming a satellite craft into the bottom of a lunar crater.

NASA resets shuttle launch for Wednesday

The delayed launch of Endeavour – caused by a fuel tank leak similar to one that delayed the shuttle Discovery in March – also bumps the launch of a moon reconnaissance mission to Thursday.

COLBERT treadmill? NASA tips visor to Colbert Nation's vote

Venus, and Jupiter, and the moon, oh my!

Does space need air traffic control?

As more countries race to launch satellites and manned craft, some warn of a space jam.

NASA unveils new lunar map

The latest, most detailed map offers the best view yet of the lunar south pole, considered a prime target for a manned landing after 2020.