Its objective was to test sensors and spacecraft components in long-term exposure to space and to make scientific observations of both the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos.

Its lunar observations included imaging at various wavelengths in the visible as well as in ultraviolet and infrared, laser ranging altimetry, gravimetry, and charged particle measurements.

There were also plans to image and determine the size, shape, rotational characteristics, surface properties, and cratering statistics of Geographos.

Power was provided by gimbaled, single axis, GaAs/Ge solar panels which charged a 15 A·h, 47 W·h/kg Nihau (Ni-H) common pressure vessel battery.

Spacecraft data processing was performed using a MIL-STD-1750A computer (1.7 MIPS) for safe mode, attitude control, and housekeeping operations, a RISC 32-bit processor (18 MIPS) for image processing and autonomous operations, and an image compression system provided by the French Space Agency CNES.

[5] Under these conditions, the asteroid flyby could not yield useful results, so the spacecraft was put into a geocentric orbit passing through the Van Allen radiation belts to test the various components on board.

The mission ended in June 1994 when the power level onboard dropped to a point where the telemetry from the spacecraft was no longer intelligible.

[3] NASA announced on March 5, 1998, that data obtained from Clementine indicated that there is enough water in polar craters of the Moon to support a human colony and a rocket fueling station (see Bistatic Radar Experiment).

The Charged Particle Telescope (CPT) on Clementine was designed to measure the flux and spectra of energetic protons (3–80 MeV) and electrons (25–500 keV).

The primary goals of the investigation were to: (1) study the interaction of the Earth's magnetotail and interplanetary shocks with the Moon; (2) monitor the solar wind in regions far removed from other spacecraft as part of a multimission coordinated study; and, (3) measure the effects of incident particles on the operating ability of the spacecraft solar cells and other sensors.

The detector, a silicon surface-barrier type with an area of 100 mm2 and a thickness of 3 mm, was shielded so as to prevent protons below 30 MeV from reaching it from directions other than via the aperture.

The signal from the detector was broken up into nine channels, the lowest six dedicated to electron detection and the highest three to protons and heavier ions.

This experiment yielded information on the petrologic properties of the surface material on the Moon, as well as giving images useful for morphologic studies and cratering statistics.

The sensor consisted of a catadioptric telescope with an aperture of 46 mm and fused silica lenses focused onto a coated Thompson CCD camera with a bandpass of 250–1000 nm and a six-position filter wheel.

The camera consisted of a catadioptric lens which focused on a mechanically cooled (to a temperature of 70 K) Amber InSb CCD focal-plane array with a bandpass of 1100–2800 nm and a six-position filter wheel.

The Clementine Laser Image Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) experiment was designed to measure the distance from the spacecraft to a point on the surface of the Moon.

The LIDAR system consisted of a 180 mJ, 1064 nm wavelength Nd-YAG (Yttrium-Aluminum-Garnet) laser transmitter which transmitted pulses to the lunar surface.

The reflected pulse travelled through the High-Resolution Camera telescope, where it was split off by a dichroic filter to a silicon avalanche photodiode detector.

The "Bistatic Radar Experiment", improvised during the mission, was designed to look for evidence of lunar water at the Moon's poles.

Radio signals from the Clementine probe's transmitter were directed towards the Moon's north and south polar regions and their reflections detected by Deep Space Network receivers on Earth.

However, later studies made using the Arecibo radio telescope showed similar reflection patterns even from areas not in permanent shadow (and in which such volatiles cannot persist), leading to suggestions that Clementine's results had been misinterpreted and were probably due to other factors such as surface roughness.