| Name | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location | Detailed Location | Country | Cislunar Status | Orbit Type | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name MMS-4 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location xGEO The term "xGEO" can refer to anything above geosynchronous altitude of ~36,000 km above Earth, but in this document it is used specifically to refer to Earth-orbiting missions. XGEO describes high-altitude Earth orbiters, but those that are still dominated by Earth's gravity as opposed to the Moon's gravity or combined three-body effects. |
Detailed Location
HEO Highly Eccentric Orbit : 8900 km x 159300 km, 28.5 deg inclination |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type xGEO | Sources https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-015-0220-5 |
| Name Queqiao (aka Chang'e 4 Relay) | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location L2S Halo A halo orbit is a three-body orbit near a Lagrange point that includes significant motion out of the Earth-moon plane. Halo orbits are typically described with a family designator such as "L1S" to describe which Lagrange point they are near (in this case, 1) and whether they are in the "northern" or "southern" family, which indicates which direction the out-of-plane motion is focused on. These orbits also exist for the Sun-Earth system, but assume descriptions here are for the Earth-Moon system unless stated otherwise. |
Detailed Location
L2S Halo A halo orbit is a three-body orbit near a Lagrange point that includes significant motion out of the Earth-moon plane. Halo orbits are typically described with a family designator such as "L1S" to describe which Lagrange point they are near (in this case, 1) and whether they are in the "northern" or "southern" family, which indicates which direction the out-of-plane motion is focused on. These orbits also exist for the Sun-Earth system, but assume descriptions here are for the Earth-Moon system unless stated otherwise. , Z-amplitude of 13,000 km, 14 day Period |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/2021/3471608 |
| Name Longjiang-1 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Chaotic uncontrolled cislunar trajectory This describes a trajectory that is in the Earth-Moon system, but not placed on a stable, controlled path. Objects on such trajectories often chaotically traverse much of the Earth-Moon system. |
Detailed Location
lost contact after trans-lunar injection burn, rideshare with QueQiao |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17272-8 |
| Name TESS | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location xGEO The term "xGEO" can refer to anything above geosynchronous altitude of ~36,000 km above Earth, but in this document it is used specifically to refer to Earth-orbiting missions. XGEO describes high-altitude Earth orbiters, but those that are still dominated by Earth's gravity as opposed to the Moon's gravity or combined three-body effects. |
Detailed Location
HEO Highly Eccentric Orbit : 108,000 x 375,000 km, 45 deg inclination |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type xGEO | Sources https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013arXiv1306.5333G/abstract, https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Journal-of-Astronomical-Telescopes-… |
| Name Parker Solar Probe | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Heliocentric Orbit The term "Heliocentric Orbit" is used here to describe objects that are primarily in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to in the Earth-Moon vicinity. |
Detailed Location
0 deg inclination, periapse slowly shrinking to 10 Solar Radii |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576520306512?via%3Dihub= |
| Name Chandrayaan-2 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Low Lunar Orbit A low lunar orbit (LLO) is an orbit about the Moon that stays near the Lunar surface. There is no official definition, but altitudes under 1000 km is a reasonable working definition of "low". |
Detailed Location
LLO Low Lunar Orbit Any vehicle that orbits the Moon (as opposed to relying on three-body effects) can be called a lunar orbit. In this document, it often refers to something that is not known to fall cleanly in the LLO or EFLO categories defined above. A low lunar orbit (LLO) is an orbit about the Moon that stays near the Lunar surface. There is no official definition, but altitudes under 1000 km is a reasonable working definition of "low". : 100 km polar |
Country India | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Lunar Orbit | Sources https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan_2.html, https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.2018-2178 |
| Name Spektr-RG | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point 1/2 in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to the Earth-Moon system. |
Detailed Location
Halo |
Country Russia | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://web.archive.org/web/20240823082258/https://iki.cosmos.ru/en/research/mi… |
| Name Chang'e 5 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Distant Retrograde Orbit A distant retrograde orbit (DRO) is a three-body orbit centered on the Moon that remains in the Earth-Moon plane. |
Detailed Location
Highly Maneuverable, Actively transferring. Currently believed to be in a DRO Distant Retrograde Orbit A distant retrograde orbit (DRO) is a three-body orbit centered on the Moon that remains in the Earth-Moon plane. |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/2021/9897105, https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CASI/documents/Research/CASI%20Arti… |
| Name Solar Orbiter | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Heliocentric Orbit The term "Heliocentric Orbit" is used here to describe objects that are primarily in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to in the Earth-Moon vicinity. |
Detailed Location
25 deg inclination, periapse of 0.28 AU, apoapse of 0.9 AU |
Country ESA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=2020-010A |
| Name James Webb Space Telescope | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point 1/2 in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to the Earth-Moon system. |
Detailed Location
Halo |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html |
| Name CAPSTONE | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Gateway L2S NRHO The Gateway L2S NRHO (Near-Rectilinear-Halo-Orbit) is a subset of the L2 Southern Halo family with a low periapse over the lunar north pole and a high periapse over the lunar south pole. NASA's Gateway station will be placed in this orbit, so it is of high-interest. |
Detailed Location
Gateway L2S NRHO The Gateway L2S NRHO (Near-Rectilinear-Halo-Orbit) is a subset of the L2 Southern Halo family with a low periapse over the lunar north pole and a high periapse over the lunar south pole. NASA's Gateway station will be placed in this orbit, so it is of high-interest. |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190030294/downloads/20190030294.pdf |
| Name Danuri (formerly KPLO) | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Low Lunar Orbit A low lunar orbit (LLO) is an orbit about the Moon that stays near the Lunar surface. There is no official definition, but altitudes under 1000 km is a reasonable working definition of "low". |
Detailed Location
Polar,60km mean altitude, maintained to within 30km. |
Country Korea | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Lunar Orbit | Sources Y. -J. Song, S. Hong, J. Bang, J. Bae and M. -J. Jeon, "The Second Phase Extend…, https://web.archive.org/web/20250919141229/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract… |
| Name Lunar Photon | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Heliocentric Orbit The term "Heliocentric Orbit" is used here to describe objects that are primarily in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to in the Earth-Moon vicinity. |
Detailed Location
Delivered CAPSTONE to BLT Ballistic Lunar Transfer. A type of long-duration, low-energy transfer from the Earth to the Moon , likely intended to use remaining fuel to target a Lunar flyby. Unclear if subsequent maneuvers were performed successfully. No updates from RL since Capstone delivery, and listed by SpaceTrack as in heliocentric orbit. |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://www.rocketlabusa.com/assets/Uploads/EXC22_017%20-%20Photon%20Doc_%C6%92…, https://www.rocketlabusa.com/updates/rocket-lab-readies-photon-spacecraft-for-n… |
| Name ArgoMoon | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Heliocentric Orbit The term "Heliocentric Orbit" is used here to describe objects that are primarily in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to in the Earth-Moon vicinity. |
Detailed Location
Rideshare with SLS Artemis-1, performs RPO Rendezvous and Proximity Operations around upper stage Then enters HEO Highly Eccentric Orbit with ~500,000 km apogee and several Lunar flybys (periselene ~60,000 km) Last flyby injects to heliocentric disposal |
Country Italy | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4645&context=smallsat |
| Name EQUULEUS | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location L2N Halo A halo orbit is a three-body orbit near a Lagrange point that includes significant motion out of the Earth-moon plane. Halo orbits are typically described with a family designator such as "L1S" to describe which Lagrange point they are near (in this case, 1) and whether they are in the "northern" or "southern" family, which indicates which direction the out-of-plane motion is focused on. These orbits also exist for the Sun-Earth system, but assume descriptions here are for the Earth-Moon system unless stated otherwise. |
Detailed Location
L2N L2 Northern Quasi-Halo preceeded by complex ~200 day cislunar transfer trajectory |
Country Japan | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40295-019-00206-y |
| Name Lunar IceCube | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Chaotic uncontrolled cislunar trajectory This describes a trajectory that is in the Earth-Moon system, but not placed on a stable, controlled path. Objects on such trajectories often chaotically traverse much of the Earth-Moon system. |
Detailed Location
Deployed from Artemis 1, likely died soon after making first contact |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210011470/downloads/Hurford_%20Lunar_0875… |
| Name LunaH-Map | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Chaotic uncontrolled cislunar trajectory This describes a trajectory that is in the Earth-Moon system, but not placed on a stable, controlled path. Objects on such trajectories often chaotically traverse much of the Earth-Moon system. |
Detailed Location
Thruster issues prevented injection into nominal Lunar orbit and recovery attempts failed. |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://blogs.nasa.gov/lunah-map/ |
| Name OMOTENASHI | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Heliocentric Orbit The term "Heliocentric Orbit" is used here to describe objects that are primarily in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to in the Earth-Moon vicinity. |
Detailed Location
DOA Dead On Arrival upon deployment from Artemis 1, failed to maneuver to induce Lunar impact. |
Country Japan | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=2022-156D |
| Name Lunar Flashlight | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Heliocentric Orbit The term "Heliocentric Orbit" is used here to describe objects that are primarily in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to in the Earth-Moon vicinity. |
Detailed Location
Thruster issues prevented injection into nominal NRHO Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit and recovery attempts failed. Moved to large xGEO The term "xGEO" can refer to anything above geosynchronous altitude of ~36,000 km above Earth, but in this document it is used specifically to refer to Earth-orbiting missions. XGEO describes high-altitude Earth orbiters, but those that are still dominated by Earth's gravity as opposed to the Moon's gravity or combined three-body effects. orbit for a time, then disposed in Heliocentric orbit |
Country USA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-calls-end-to-lunar-flashlight-after-some-tec… |
| Name Aditya-L1 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point 1/2 in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to the Earth-Moon system. |
Detailed Location
Halo |
Country India | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://www.isro.gov.in/halo-orbit-insertion-adtya-l1.html |
| Name Chandrayaan-3 - Propulsion Module | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location xGEO The term "xGEO" can refer to anything above geosynchronous altitude of ~36,000 km above Earth, but in this document it is used specifically to refer to Earth-orbiting missions. XGEO describes high-altitude Earth orbiters, but those that are still dominated by Earth's gravity as opposed to the Moon's gravity or combined three-body effects. |
Detailed Location
Highly perturbed orbit, altitde expected to vary from 115,000-154,000km. Approx. 13 day period, 27-deg inclination. |
Country India | Cislunar Status On-orbit/End-of-life | Orbit Type xGEO | Sources https://www.isro.gov.in/Ch3_Propulsion_Module_moved_from_Lunar_orbit_to_Earth_o… |
| Name EUCLID | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point 1/2 in the Sun-Earth system, as opposed to the Earth-Moon system. |
Detailed Location
Large amplitude halo |
Country ESA | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Heliocentric Orbit | Sources https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid_overview |
| Name QueQiao-2 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Elliptical Frozen Lunar Orbit An elliptical frozen lunar orbit (EFLO) is an orbit about the moon that typically is highly eccentric, with a much lower periapse altitude than apoapse. Because the Moon's gravity is very irregular, there is a limited range of stable orbits. "Frozen" orbits maintain desirable orbit geometry in the face of these gravity perturbations, and are thus popular for use. Many high-altitude Lunar orbits are in elliptical frozen orbits for this reason |
Detailed Location
24-hour orbit to support Chang'e 6, lowers to 12-hour orbit for Chang'e 6-7. 12 hour orbit: 54.8 deg inclined, perilune altitude of about 300km and apolune altitude of about 8600km. Apolune over south pole. Assuming same inclination, argument of periapse, and periapse altitude, 24-hour orbit would have apolune altitude of 15,725 km |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Lunar Orbit | Sources https://iafastro.directory/iac/paper/id/76670/summary/, https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=QUEQIAO-2 |
| Name Tiandu-1 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location 3:1 Resonant Orbit |
Detailed Location
3:1 Resonant orbit with one petal near the Moon |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://web.archive.org/web/20250616172658/https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5170871003… |
| Name Tiandu-2 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Elliptical Frozen Lunar Orbit An elliptical frozen lunar orbit (EFLO) is an orbit about the moon that typically is highly eccentric, with a much lower periapse altitude than apoapse. Because the Moon's gravity is very irregular, there is a limited range of stable orbits. "Frozen" orbits maintain desirable orbit geometry in the face of these gravity perturbations, and are thus popular for use. Many high-altitude Lunar orbits are in elliptical frozen orbits for this reason |
Detailed Location
24-hour elliptical frozen orbit. Rideshare with QueQiao-2, assume identical parameters. |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Lunar Orbit | Sources https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=QUEQIAO-2, https://web.archive.org/web/20240720034208/https://www.sast.net/news/237.html |
| Name QS-1 | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Cislunar Orbit The term "Cislunar Orbit" is used here to describe an object that is expected to be significantly affected by three-body dynamics, but does not cleanly fit into a specific category (often for lack of information). |
Detailed Location
References to both L1 and L2 Halo orbits. Expected to maneuver significantly throughout mission. |
Country USA | Cislunar Status Upcoming | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://quantumspace.us/newsroom/quantum-space-announces-plans-for-first-mission |
| Name DRO-A | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Distant Retrograde Orbit A distant retrograde orbit (DRO) is a three-body orbit centered on the Moon that remains in the Earth-Moon plane. |
Detailed Location
Distant Retrograde Orbit A distant retrograde orbit (DRO) is a three-body orbit centered on the Moon that remains in the Earth-Moon plane. |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://web.archive.org/web/20240709075537/https://jdse.bit.edu.cn/sktcxb/en/ar… |
| Name DRO-B | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Cislunar Orbit The term "Cislunar Orbit" is used here to describe an object that is expected to be significantly affected by three-body dynamics, but does not cleanly fit into a specific category (often for lack of information). |
Detailed Location
TBD To Be Determined , Chinese state media references "Earth-Moon space maneuver orbits" |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://web.archive.org/web/20250424035918/https://english.news.cn/20250416/442… |
| Name Oracle-M | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Cislunar Orbit The term "Cislunar Orbit" is used here to describe an object that is expected to be significantly affected by three-body dynamics, but does not cleanly fit into a specific category (often for lack of information). |
Detailed Location
TBD To Be Determined |
Country USA | Cislunar Status Upcoming | Orbit Type Cislunar Three-Body Orbit | Sources https://www.afrl.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3611977/afrls-oracle-famil… |
| Name Chang'e 6 Orbiter | Historical/Estimated Launch | Location Low Lunar Orbit A low lunar orbit (LLO) is an orbit about the Moon that stays near the Lunar surface. There is no official definition, but altitudes under 1000 km is a reasonable working definition of "low". |
Detailed Location
200km circular orbit, likely highly inclined to reach high latitude landing site. |
Country China | Cislunar Status On-orbit/Operational | Orbit Type Lunar Orbit | Sources https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=CHANG-E-6 |
Cislunar Database
This database contains XGEO, cislunar, and heliocentric missions currently on orbit or planned, based on publicly available sources found by our team (including manufacturer websites, conference papers, press releases, etc.).