The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Plans for the Extended Science Phase

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (LRO), launched on June 18, 2009, began with the goal of seeking safe landing sites for future robotic missions or the return of humans to the Moon as part of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD). In addition, LRO's objectives included the search for surface resources and to investigate the Lunar radiation environment. Having marked the two-year anniversary, we will review here the major results from the LRO mission for both exploration and science and discuss plans and objectives going forward including plans for an extended science phase out to 2014.