[music]
In the time before the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter, most
lunar orbiting missions had a
lifespan of one to two years.
But now, LRO has shattered all
records and been at the Moon for
one hundred lunar days – that’s
eight years of data collection.
This mission has truly ushered
in a new era of lunar and
planetary science. One of the
biggest accomplishments is that
LRO’s high-resolution camera has
been able to image almost the
entire lunar surface, down to
one meter of resolution. This
has opened a treasure trove of
new data about geological
processes and areas that may be
best suited for future
exploration. One hundred lunar
days has also given us more time
study the Moon’s far side in
more detail than ever before. We
now know, for example, that the
Compton-Belkovich volcanic
complex formed from a rare type
of lava about 3.7 billion years
ago. This helps paint a new
picture of the Moon’s history.
The Moon has not only had a wide
range of complex geologic
processes, but its volcanism may
have also changed over time. LRO
has also been able to measure
something you may not have heard
about: the lunar tide – or how
much the Moon’s surface actually
flexes and cracks due to the
gravitational pull of the Earth.
There’s still a lot to learn
about this ongoing process,
making our Moon an important
case study when thinking about
other planets and moons. Over
its lifetime of 4 1/2 billion
years, the Moon has also been
bombarded by all sorts of
asteroids and comets. This has
left millions of impact craters
on the surface. For planetary
scientists, however, there had
been no way to identify newly
formed craters. But when LRO
arrived, all this changed. By
comparing pictures taken earlier
in the mission with more recent
images, NASA scientists have
discovered more than sixty new
impact craters, like this one
from 2013. And that’s not all.
LRO’s instruments are able to
study both new and old craters
in ways we never have before.
LOLA, for example, helps create
topographic 3-D maps, and
Mini-RF has detected evidence of
water ice inside deep craters at
the lunar poles. All of this is
important for space science as a
whole. Craters are used to help
determine the age of a surface,
how hot or cold a planet is, and
how thick a planet’s atmosphere
might be. Observing new impact
craters also gives us better
insight into what happens when a
meteorite strikes a planetary
surface. And this touches upon a
key point - our Moon is more
than just a rock. It’s the
cornerstone for understanding
our solar system and beyond. It
has a dynamic history that we
are still learning about and
features we are still
discovering. By being at the
Moon for one hundred lunar days
and counting, we continue to
expand our knowledge of our
nearest neighbor in space, and
with that,
the rest of the universe. 
[beeping]
