Planetary Science

Lunar Prospector

Orbiter · Competed · PI-led · Launched on January 7, 1998 · Completed · LCC: $64M/$131M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For Lunar Prospector, papers published February 1, 1998 to August 1, 2001. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For Lunar Prospector, papers published from 1998 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods287
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods14,658
Citation indices
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. Methods110
m-indexm-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; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods2.3
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): 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. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods126
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. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods387

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (287)

All publications CSV · JSON

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

    Jolliff, Bradley L., 2000, JGR

    891 lifetime citations

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

    Feldman, W. C., 1998, Sci

    543 lifetime citations

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

    Prettyman, T. H., 2006, JGRE

    355 lifetime citations

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

    Lawrence, D. J., 1998, Sci

    317 lifetime citations

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

    Konopliv, A. S., 2001, Icar

    297 lifetime citations

  6. Evidence for water ice near the lunar poles

    Feldman, W. C., 2001, JGR

    272 lifetime citations

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

    Shkuratov, Y., 2011, P&SS

    264 lifetime citations

  8. Polar hydrogen deposits on the Moon

    Feldman, W. C., 2000, JGR

    238 lifetime citations

  9. Improved Gravity Field of the Moon from Lunar Prospector

    Konopliv, A. S., 1998, Sci

    233 lifetime citations

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

    Lin, R. P., 1998, Sci

    230 lifetime citations

  11. Thorium abundances on the lunar surface

    Lawrence, D. J., 2000, JGR

    223 lifetime citations

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

    Sato, Hiroyuki, 2017, Icar

    219 lifetime citations

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

    Lawrence, D. J., 2002, JGRE

    212 lifetime citations

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

    Mitchell, D. L., 2008, Icar

    181 lifetime citations

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

    Konopliv, Alex S., 2013, JGRE

    178 lifetime citations

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

    Campbell, Donald B., 2006, Natur

    166 lifetime 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

    165 lifetime citations

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

    Hood, L. L., 2001, JGR

    163 lifetime citations

  19. Small-area thorium features on the lunar surface

    Lawrence, D. J., 2003, JGRE

    163 lifetime citations

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

    Fa, Wenzhe, 2012, Icar

    159 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) 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.

((=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 "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (18)

  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. 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 🤖
  6. 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 🤖
  7. PLANETARY SCIENCE:Lunar Prospector Probes Moon's Core Mysteries Science staff news article reporting mission results; a news item, not research. Decision 🤖
  8. Lunar Magnetic Field Observation and Initial Global Mapping of Lunar Magnetic Anomalies by MAP-LMAG Onboard SELENE (Kaguya) Instrument description and first maps from Kaguya's magnetometer; Lunar Prospector maps appear only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  9. Objectives of a prospective Ukrainian orbiter mission to the moon Objectives of a proposed Ukrainian lunar orbiter; names Lunar Prospector only as an earlier mission. Decision 🤖
  10. An Overview of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Overview of the LCROSS mission; names Lunar Prospector only as earlier evidence for polar ice. Decision 🤖
  11. Scientific rationale for the D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer on board ESA's SMART-1 mission to the Moon Science rationale for SMART-1's D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer; names Lunar Prospector only as an earlier mission. Decision 🤖
  12. The science mission of SpaceIL's Beresheet lander Overview of the Beresheet lander's science mission. Decision 🤖
  13. On the Determination of the Lunar Gravity Field from the First Chinese Lunar Prospector Mission Gravity-mapping study for China's first lunar mission, which it calls a lunar prospector mission; not about Lunar Prospector. Decision 🤖
  14. Polar Night: A lunar volatiles expedition Proposal for a lunar polar volatiles mission; names Lunar Prospector only for its earlier hydrogen detection. Decision 🤖
  15. Robotic search for ices and hydrous minerals at the lunar poles using a combined X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instrument Describes the CheMin X-ray instrument under development; names Lunar Prospector only for its polar hydrogen result. Decision 🤖
  16. A compact, low-power epithermal neutron counter for lunar water detection Describes a neutron detector for future lunar rovers; names Lunar Prospector only as earlier work. Decision 🤖
  17. STARDUST: implementing a new manage-to-budget paradigm Management account of the Stardust mission; names Lunar Prospector only as an earlier Discovery mission. Decision 🤖
  18. Lunar Prospector: First Results and Lessons Learned Duplicate record of 2002AcAau..50...39H (same paper). Decision 🤖