NASA said it has successfully transmitted and reflected a laser beam between its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander for the first time on the Moon. ISRO said on Friday that the instrument has started working as a location marker near the moon’s south pole.
The national space agency said the Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) on the Chandrayaan-3 lander has started serving as a fiducial point (precisely located marker for reference) on the Moon. “The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) was used on LRO. The observation occurred during the lunar night, when LRO was ascending to the east of Chandrayaan-3,” ISRO said.
US space agency NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) achieved laser range measurement on December 12, 2023 by successfully detecting the signals reflected by the LRA. “On Dec. 12, 2023, at 3 p.m. EST, NASA’s LRO pointed its laser altimeter instrument toward the sky. 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 a laser pulse toward it. After the orbiter recorded the light returned from a small NASA retroreflector mounted on Vikram, NASA scientists knew that their technique had finally worked,” it was quoted in a report published by NASA. hindu,
These measurements, besides aiding accurate determination of the spacecraft’s orbital position, will help refine the lunar geologic frame, revealing insights into the Moon’s dynamics, internal structure and gravity anomalies, ISRO said.
NASA’s LRA was accommodated on Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander as part of international collaboration. It consists of eight corner-cube retroreflectors on a hemispherical support structure. This array provides access to lasers from multiple directions by any orbiting spacecraft with appropriate equipment.
The passive optical instrument, weighing about 20 grams, is designed to last for decades on the lunar surface. Landing near the moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023, Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander is accessible for LOL measurements, ISRO said.
The statement said that while several LRAs have been deployed on the Moon since the beginning of lunar exploration, the LRA on Chandrayaan-3 is a miniaturized version and is the only one currently available near the south pole. “NASA’s LRA on Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander will continue to serve as a long-term geodetic station and a location marker on the lunar surface, benefiting current and future lunar missions,” ISRO said.
(With PTI inputs)
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