NASA spacecraft establishes successful communication with India's Chandrayaan-3 lander on the Moon

NASA's spacecraft achieves groundbreaking laser communication with India's Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander on the Moon, marking a milestone in precise lunar surface targeting. The laser pulses, transmitted on December 12, successfully bounced back from NASA's retroreflector on Vikram, signifying the technique's efficacy.

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In a pivotal development, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) employed a laser instrument to establish communication with India's Chandrayaan-3 mission's Vikram lander on the Moon's south pole. The laser pulses, transmitted on December 12, were successfully received and bounced back from a tiny retroreflector aboard Vikram. Positioned near the Manzinus crater, the lander was about 100 kilometers away from the LRO during this groundbreaking communication.

Leveraging laser pulses for precise location determination is a common practice for tracking Earth-orbiting satellites from the ground. NASA's Xiaoli Sun, leading the team at Goddard Space Flight Center, emphasized the technique's versatility by showcasing its use in reverse – sending laser pulses from a moving spacecraft to a stationary one.

The Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) on Chandrayaan-3's lander, a compact device merely 2 inches wide, served as a fiducial point for reference on the Moon. Comprising quartz-corner-cube prisms, the LRA reflects light in any direction without requiring power or maintenance, lasting for decades. This opens new avenues for routine use in future space missions.

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NASA expressed intentions to refine the technique, making it a routine practice for missions employing retroreflectors. Retroreflectors, a staple since the Apollo era, find various applications in science and exploration. Reflecting light to Earth, these devices have unveiled significant lunar dynamics, including the Moon's gradual drift away from our planet.

Responding to the breakthrough, ISRO stated that Chandrayaan-3's LRA now serves as a precision marker on the Moon. The achievement signifies a collaborative success between NASA and ISRO, unlocking possibilities for future lunar explorations.