The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Necho's Terraces (Released 31 August 2010)
  Closeup view of the spectacular western terrace of Necho crater.
• Impact melt at Necho crater (Released 24 August 2010)
  Impact melt that flowed from the rim shortly after the formation of Necho crater.
• Necho's jumbled floor (Released 24 August 2010)
  The chaotic floor of Necho crater attests to the dynamic environment immediately after the impact event.

A new geologic map of the moon's Schrödinger basin paints an instant, camouflage-colored portrait of what a mash-up the moon's surface is after eons of violent events.

The geologic record at Schrödinger is still relatively fresh because the basin is only about 3.8 billion years old; this makes it the moon's second-youngest large basin (it's roughly 320 kilometers, or 200 miles, in diameter).

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Fractures in the mare of Tsiolkovskiy Crater (Released 24 August 2010)
  Small fractures in the mare floor of Tsiolkovskiy Crater are a departure from the usual scene of smooth mare pitted with impact craters.
• Central Peak/Mare Boundary (Released 25 August 2010)
  The central peak of Tsiolkovskiy crater is surrounded with mare basalt.
• Hummocky Terrain (Released 26 August 2010)
  NAC image M115475912R shows hummocky terrain north of the central peak of Tsiolkovskiy, still within the crater rim but outside the region flooded by mare basalt.

Newly discovered cliffs in the lunar crust indicate the moon shrank globally in the geologically recent past and might still be shrinking today, according to a team analyzing new images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.

The results provide important clues to the moon's recent geologic and tectonic evolution.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Volcanoes in Lacus Mortis (Released 10 August 2010)
  Most of the craters on the Moon formed through impact processes.
• Photogrammetric Processing of LROC NAC Stereo Images (Released 12 August 2010)
  High-resolution 3D Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of a lunar crater created from a LROC NAC stereo pair.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Remnants of the Imbrium impact (Released 3 August 2010)
  Mare basalts embayed ejecta structures formed by the massive Imbrium impact.
• Concentric crater (Released 4 August 2010)
  The inner rim of Gruithuisen K.
• A path not taken (Released 5 August 2010)
  Mare surface in Sinus Aestuum near a lunar exploration site proposed in the late 1950s.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• New Impact Crater on the Moon! (Released 27 July 2010)
  Since this crater is not visible in images from the Apollo 15 mission, it formed sometime in the last 38 years.
• Not your average complex crater (Released 28 July 2010)
  The small, irregular terraces on the walls of Bürg Crater and the debris piles and outcropping wall material, with strong variations in reflectance, only hint at the geologic diversity of this complex crater.
• A molten flood (Released 29 July 2010)
  A flood of impact melt swept away from the rim of Necho crater.

Engineers have conducted a fuel tank check of one of NASA's GRAIL mission spacecraft (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory), scheduled for launch in 2011.

Confirming the size and fit of manufactured components is one of the steps required prior to welding the spacecraft's fuel tanks into the propulsion system's feed lines.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Up from the depths (Released 20 July 2010)
  Close up view of the central peak of Aristarchus crater, 700 meters wide.
• Bhabha sinks into the shadows (Released 21 July 2010)
  Last rays striking central peak of Bhabha crater just before sunset.
• A Dark Cascade at Sulpicius Gallus (Released 22 July 2010)
  LROC NAC close-up of the wall of a suspected volcanic vent within the regional pyroclastic deposit near Sulpicius Gallus.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• The Moon's largest impact basin (Released 13 July 2010)
  A crater within a crater within a basin: the interior of the South Pole-Aitken basin is one of the most compelling destinations on the Moon.
• How Common are Mare Pit Craters? (Released 14 July 2010)
  One of three large pit craters so far found on the Moon -- do these pits provide access to open lava tubes?

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Image of the Week:

• Schrödinger Impact Basin (Released 16 July 2010)
  Schrödinger impact basin, located on the lunar far side within South Pole-Aitken Basin, is not visible from the Earth.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Linné Crater (Released 6 July 2010)
  Linné crater (2.2 km diameter) is a beautifully preserved young mare crater.
• Apollo 16, Footsteps Under High Sun (Released 8 July 2010)
  High-sun image of the Apollo 16 landing site showing the lunar module descent stage, various pieces of equipment, and disturbed lunar soil which marks where John Young and Charles Duke traversed in the spring of 1972.

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Image of the Week:

• Jackson Crater (Released 9 July 2010)
  Bright rays streak for hundreds of kilometers across the lunar surface, originating from a large impact crater in the far side's northern hemisphere.

Spectral Profiler onboard on Japanese lunar explorer Kaguya revealed the global distribution of olivine on the lunar surface and its origin.

This new finding provides important insight into the Moon's origin and evolution. This result was published in the British scientific journal Nature Geosciences on July 4, 2010.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Reiner Gamma Constellation Region of Interest (Released 29 June 2010)
  The heart of the Constellation region of interest in the Reiner Gamma swirl.
• Wrinkle ridge in Oceanus Procellarum (Released 2 July 2010)
  Exposed boulders are clustered on the crest of a sharply defined wrinkle ridge, much like sprinkles on an ice cream cone.

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Image of the Week:

• Mare Crisium (Released 2 July 2010)
  Located in the northeast quadrant of the lunar near side, Mare Crisium is a Nectarian aged basin that spans 740 km. LOLA data reveal that the floor of Mare Crisium is approximately 1.8 km below lunar datum, or "sea level," while the outer rim is about 3.34 km above lunar datum.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Forked Impact Melt Flows at Farside Crater (Released 22 June 2010)
  Impact melt flow split into two distinct segments.
• The Earth from the Moon (Released 24 June 2010)
  The Earth as seen from the Moon! LROC NAC mosaic of images snapped on 12 June 2010 during a calibration sequence.

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Image of the Week:

• Goddard Crater (Released 25 June 2010)
  Goddard Crater is located along the Moons eastern limb. LOLA data show the floor of the 90 km diameter crater to be relatively flat and smooth.

The following featured images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) are now available:

• Lichtenberg Crater (Released 15 June 2010)
  This close up image of the wall of Lichtenberg crater shows distinct layering of pre-impact mare deposits.
• Depths of Mare Ingenii (Released 16 June 2010)
  Impact craters are visible everywhere on the Moon, but pits are rare.
• Orientale Basin (Released 17 June 2010)
  The Orientale basin is the youngest of the large lunar basins.

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Image of the Week:

• Malapert (Released 18 June 2010)
  Located near the lunar South Pole, the Malapert region is of interest as a potential location for lunar exploration.