On December 12, 2023, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) successfully “pinged” India’s Vikram moon lander. This marked a first for space communications. The laser light show between LRO and Vikram took place at a distance of about 62 miles (100 kilometers

The instrument on the Chandrayaan-3 lander that started serving as a location marker is the Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA).  The LRA is a passive experiment that measures the spatial interval between Earth and the moon.  It comprises eight corner-cube retroreflectors on a hemispherical support structure. This array facilitates laser ranging from various directions by any orbiting spacecraft with suitable instrument. 

The LRA reflects laser pulses transmitted from Earth back to their origin. The US space agency NASA’s Lunar Orbiter detected signals reflected by the LRA on the lander.

According to the press release, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) pointed its laser altimeter instrument toward Vikram. The lander was 62 miles, or 100 kilometres, away from LRO when LRO had transmitted laser pulses toward it. This location was near Manzinus crater in the Moon’s South Pole region

On December 12, 2023, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) pointed its laser altimeter instrument toward Vikram, the lunar lander from the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The lander was about 100 kilometers away from the LRO, near the Manzinus crater in the Moon’s South Pole region

The LRO’s laser altimeter instrument, called LOLA, has been able to measure Vikram since its lunar landing. The LRO transmitted laser pulses toward Vikram, and the successful transmission and reflection of the laser beam have opened the door to a new era in space communications and lunar exploration. 

The LRO’s data has allowed scientists to construct a timeline of asteroid bombardment history on the Moon, providing insight into the Moon’s formation and the whole solar system

At 3 pm EST (local time) on December 12, 2023, NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) pointed its laser altimeter instrument toward Vikram. The lander was 62 miles, or 100 kilometers, away from LRO, near Manzinus crater in the Moon’s South Pole region, when LRO transmitted laser pulses toward it.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has discovered a number of things about the Moon, including: 

• Water ice: The LRO has found evidence of water ice in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon’s poles.  In 2009, a ride-along spacecraft detected water in the debris plume created by a rocket stage that crashed into the south pole.  The LRO has also confirmed the presence of water in the southern lunar crater Cabeus. 
• Temperature: The LRO has discovered the coldest place in the solar system. 
• Crater formation: The LRO has mapped most of the Moon’s surface to determine crater formation rates and hazards. 
• Asteroid bombardment: The LRO has provided a timeline of asteroid bombardment history on the Moon. 
• Surface shape: The LRO has provided data for a precise 3D map of the Moon. 
• Surface composition: The LRO’s camera has provided data on the color and composition of the Moon. 
• Temperature extremes: The LRO has provided data on the temperature extremes that cycle through day and night. The LRO’s data is considered essential for planning NASA’s future missions to the Moon. The LRO’s detailed mapping program is identifying safe landing sites, locating potential resources, and characterizing the radiation environment. 

The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five uncrewed missions launched between 1966 and 1967. The missions were designed to help select landing sites for the Apollo missions by mapping the Moon’s surface. The missions provided the first photographs from lunar orbit and photographed both the Moon and Earth

The Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft was designed to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface. It also collected data on selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact.  During its 35-day mission, Lunar Orbiter 1 collected 413 high- and moderate-resolution photographs. This included 262,000 square kilometers of the nearside of the Moon and over 3,000,000 square kilometers of the farside. 

Lunar Orbiter IV was designed to provide an expanded photographic survey of the lunar surface. It photographed the lunar nearside and farside, including the lunar polar regions

The first three missions of the Lunar Orbiter program focused on imaging 20 potential landing sites for the Apollo missions. The first three missions were flown at low inclination orbits, and the final two missions were flown at high altitude polar orbits

The pictures from the Lunar Orbiter program enabled the selection of five primary landing sites for the manned Apollo missions. The pictures also made it possible to construct lunar maps with as much as 100 times the detail available from Earth-based telescopic observations

The first United States spacecraft to orbit the Moon was Lunar Orbiter 1, which launched on August 14, 1966. The spacecraft’s first orbit was elliptical, with a perilune of 102.1 nautical miles and an apolune of 1,008 nautical miles. 

The first artificial object to fly by the Moon was the uncrewed Soviet probe Luna 1, which passed by on January 4, 1959

On December 12, 2023, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) transmitted laser pulses toward the Vikram lander, which was about 100 kilometers away. The orbiter then registered light that bounced back from a NASA retroreflector on the lander. This marked the first time a laser light show had taken place between the LRO and an Indian lander

The Vikram lander is part of India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which aims to learn more about the Moon. The lander is named after ISRO founder Vikram Sarabhai and carries the Pragyan rover. Both the lander and rover were designed to operate for one lunar day, or 14 Earth days. 

The Manzinus crater is located in the southern region of the Moon’s near side. The lunar south pole region is considered a promising location for future exploration missions and a lunar outpost

The lander was 62 miles, or 100 kilometers, away from LRO, near Manzinus crater in the Moon’s South Pole region, when LRO transmitted laser pulses toward it. After the orbiter registered light that had bounced back from a tiny NASA retroreflector aboard Vikram, NASA scientists knew their technique had finally worked

On August 23, 2023, India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the moon near the south pole. This made India the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, and the first to do so near the south pole. The landing occurred at a latitude of about 69 degrees south, closer to the south pole than any previous craft

The successful mission is expected to boost India’s private space sector and provide research opportunities

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