Lunar eclipse and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) orbit. The LRO, which orbits the Moon, was launched on 18 June 2009. Here, its orbit is shown with an image of the 15 June 2011 lunar eclipse (hence the Moon's orange colour). During this lunar eclipse, the LRO turned off all non-essential systems to conserve its battery power. It left on the Diviner Lunar Radiometry Experiment to measure the cooling of the Moon's surface during the eclipse. This image shows the Moon and LRO at the time of greatest eclipse at 20:13 UTC.