Quote:
Originally Posted by Moonboy
I just had a great idea... They should make satellite's that orbit the moon..... have they done that yet???
Gus
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Notable lunar orbiters (excluding many other missions)
1966-1967 "Lunar Orbiter Program"
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/orbiter/orbiter.html
1994 "Clementine"
http://www.cmf.nrl.navy.mil/clementine/
1998 "Lunar Prospector"
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/
2007-present "Kaguya/Selene"
http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/index_e.htm
There have been several others, this just covers some of the more notable missions.
Lunar orbit is inherently unstable due to the shape of the Moon's gravitational field. There are a few stable orbits, but most of them degrade fairly rapidly preventing long duration missions.
Eric