Planetary Science

Lunar Prospector

299 tracked publications and 14,579 citations from 1998–2026. Launched 1998. Life-cycle cost: $131M in 2025 dollars. Active Mission Window February 1, 1998 to August 1, 2001: 47 publications, 6.0 top-10% credit.

Orbiter · h-index 67 · 37 papers with 100+ citations · prime mission ended 1999

Lifetime

Scope Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the prime mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Every tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. Methods

Key measures

Active Mission Window · papers February 1, 1998 to August 1, 2001
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed research papers we found for the mission. The list may not be complete. Methods47
CitationsCitations received by the tracked publications in the selected scope. The two windowed scopes count each paper’s citations only within its citation window. Methods631
Mean citations per publicationMean citations: total citations divided by tracked publications in the selected scope. One blockbuster paper can lift it. Methods13
Median citations per publicationMedian citations: the middle paper’s citation count in the selected scope; half the papers have more, half fewer. A single blockbuster sways it less than the mean. Methods6
Uncited publicationsUncited publications: papers with no citations in the selected scope. Methods14 (30%)
Top-10% creditTop 10%: among the 10% most-cited papers from this division’s missions, ranked against papers published around the same time. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods6.0 · 0.55% of division
Top-1% creditTop 1%: among the 1% most-cited papers from this division’s missions within the selected window. Not adjusted for publication year. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods0 · 0% of division
Lifetime indices · every tracked publication to date, in any scope
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods67
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods109
m-index, as of October 4, 2026m-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes, so it belongs to the date shown; it also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods2.3
toritori (total research impact, from ADS): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Methods120
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Methods377

Tracked publications

  1. Major lunar crustal terranes: Surface expressions and crust-mantle origins

    Jolliff, Bradley L., 2000, JGR

    885 citations

  2. Fluxes of Fast and Epithermal Neutrons from Lunar Prospector: Evidence for Water Ice at the Lunar Poles

    Feldman, W. C., 1998, Sci

    532 citations

  3. Elemental composition of the lunar surface: Analysis of gamma ray spectroscopy data from Lunar Prospector

    Prettyman, T. H., 2006, JGRE

    350 citations

  4. Global Elemental Maps of the Moon: The Lunar Prospector Gamma-Ray Spectrometer

    Lawrence, D. J., 1998, Sci

    314 citations

  5. Recent Gravity Models as a Result of the Lunar Prospector Mission

    Konopliv, A. S., 2001, Icar

    290 citations

  6. Evidence for water ice near the lunar poles

    Feldman, W. C., 2001, JGR

    268 citations

  7. Optical measurements of the Moon as a tool to study its surface

    Shkuratov, Y., 2011, P&SS

    257 citations

  8. Polar hydrogen deposits on the Moon

    Feldman, W. C., 2000, JGR

    233 citations

  9. Improved Gravity Field of the Moon from Lunar Prospector

    Konopliv, A. S., 1998, Sci

    231 citations

  10. Lunar Surface Magnetic Fields and Their Interaction with the Solar Wind: Results from Lunar Prospector

    Lin, R. P., 1998, Sci

    226 citations

  11. Thorium abundances on the lunar surface

    Lawrence, D. J., 2000, JGR

    222 citations

  12. Lunar mare TiO₂ abundances estimated from UV/Vis reflectance

    Sato, Hiroyuki, 2017, Icar

    213 citations

  13. Iron abundances on the lunar surface as measured by the Lunar Prospector gamma-ray and neutron spectrometers

    Lawrence, D. J., 2002, JGRE

    211 citations

  14. Global mapping of lunar crustal magnetic fields by Lunar Prospector

    Mitchell, D. L., 2008, Icar

    181 citations

  15. The JPL lunar gravity field to spherical harmonic degree 660 from the GRAIL Primary Mission

    Konopliv, Alex S., 2013, JGRE

    174 citations

  16. No evidence for thick deposits of ice at the lunar south pole

    Campbell, Donald B., 2006, Natur

    166 citations

  17. Lunar surface geochemistry: Global concentrations of Th, K, and FeO as derived from lunar prospector and Clementine data

    Gillis, Jeffrey J., 2004, GeCoA

    164 citations

  18. Initial mapping and interpretation of lunar crustal magnetic anomalies using Lunar Prospector magnetometer data

    Hood, L. L., 2001, JGR

    162 citations

  19. Small-area thorium features on the lunar surface

    Lawrence, D. J., 2003, JGRE

    162 citations

  20. Regolith thickness over the lunar nearside: Results from Earth-based 70-cm Arecibo radar observations

    Fa, Wenzhe, 2012, Icar

    157 citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Astrophysics Data System (ADS) for peer-reviewed articles naming Lunar Prospector in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces. SciX is ADS’s current interface.

((=abs:"Lunar Prospector" OR (abs:LPNS AND abs:(lunar OR Moon OR neutron)))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[1998-02 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "AIASJ" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NewSc" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (8)

  1. Lunar polar ice deposits: scientific and utilization objectives of the lunar ice discovery mission proposal Lunar rover proposal; mentions Lunar Prospector only as a planned future mission. Decision 🤖
  2. Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer for the Dawn Mission to 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta Describes Dawn's gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer; mentions Lunar Prospector only as design heritage. Decision 🤖
  3. Instrumentation for Geological Field Work on the Moon Describes proposed instruments for future human lunar fieldwork; reports no results. Decision 🤖
  4. Radon alpha-ray detector on-board lunar mission SELENE Describes an alpha-ray detector for Japan's SELENE orbiter; cites Lunar Prospector as background. Decision 🤖
  5. 2012ExA....33..587S Owner-directed exclusion: Lunar Net is a proposal and design overview for a different mission, not a Lunar Prospector science paper. Decision 👨
  6. Lunar soil hydration constrained by exospheric water liberated by meteoroid impacts Owner-directed exclusion: the hydration measurements and inferred water cycle are from LADEE's Neutral Mass Spectrometer; Lunar Prospector is mentioned only among prior water observations, with no demonstrated use of its data. Decision 👨
  7. Measuring the Elemental Composition of Phobos: The Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and NEutrons (MEGANE) Investigation for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) Mission Describes the MEGANE instrument for Japan's MMX mission; mentions Lunar Prospector only as heritage. Decision 🤖
  8. Geant4 Simulation on Lunar Surface Water Content Inversion Using the Chang'E-7 Neutron and Gamma-ray Spectrometer Simulation study for Chang'E-7's neutron spectrometer; cites Lunar Prospector only for comparison. Decision 🤖