Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera

Little Learners' Activity Guide


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Lunar science activities for all ages!

LROC Little Learners' Activity Guide is full of content for audiences who are new to learning about the Moon and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. This beginners interactive guide can be used in classrooms by teachers and students, by families looking to educate or enjoy activities with their children, or for fun on your own.

The information and links below can be used alongside your Activity Guide. We have also included links for you to download and print some of the activities at home or school.

Download the PDF

Beginner Lunar facts

Basic information about the Moon, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, LROC Narrow Angle and Wide Angle Cameras, and the Apollo missions. These facts may be necessary to complete some of the activity pages.

  1. The Moon is 363,301 kilometers (225,745 miles) from the Earth.
  2. The surface of the Moon is almost as large as Africa.
  3. It takes 27 days for the Moon to orbit around the Earth.
  4. Gravity on the surface of the Moon is 1/6 as strong as on Earth.
  5. A person weighing 120 lbs on Earth weighs 20 lbs on the Moon.
  6. The farside is the side of the moon we cannot see from Earth.
  7. On 20 July 1969 Neil Armstdong became the first human being to set foot on the Moon during the Apollo 11 misson.
  8. Only 12 people have ever walked on the Moon.
  9. No person has landed on the Moon since 1972.
  10. 800 lbs of lunar rocks were collected during the Apollo missions.
  11. The oldest rock collected from the Moon is 4.5 billion years old.
  12. South Pole Aitken is the largest impact basin on the lunar farside.
  13. As of 15 January 2018, LROC has taken 1,807,102 images of the Moon’s surface (1,479,335 images from the NAC and 327,767 from the WAC).
  14. LROC is one of seven different instduments on the LRO spacecraft.
  15. The LRO spacecraft orbits from 30 - 150 km above the lunar surface. It is closest to the Moon as it passes over the lunar south pole and farthest away as it passes over the lunar north pole.
  16. The LRO spacecraft was approximately 1,916 kg at launch, and has a size of 3.9 x 2.7 x 2.6 meters, which is about the size of a van.
  17. The LRO launch date was 18 June 2009.
  18. The Apollo Lunar Module had a size of 9 x 7 x 9 meters.
  19. The Wide Angle Camera (WAC) takes images of the Moon in visible and ultdaviolet light and is 16 x 23 x 32 cm.
  20. The Narrow Angle Cameras (NAC) acquire high resoution (50 to 150cm per pixel) images of the Moon and is 70 x 27cm in diameter.
  21. Impact basins are formed as the result of impacts from asteroids and comets, and are larger than craters.
  22. The Russians landed two robot rovers on the Moon. They named them Lunokhod, which meant “Moon Car”.
  23. Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock, and includes dust, dirt, soil and broken rock.
  24. The two types of rock that make up the Moon’s crust are anorthosite and basalt.

Answers to the Activities

Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module, Wide Angle Camera, Narrow Angle Camera, South Pole Aitken, Impact Basin, Apollo, Lunokhod.

Down: 1. QuickMap 3. Regolith 5. Tycho 6. DTM

Across: 2. Farside; 4. Basalt; 7. Anorthosite