Can you shoot a laser at the Moon?

For the last decade, scientists have been shooting powerful laser beams toward a reflector on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a spacecraft that orbits our moon about 240,000 miles from Earth. These devices act as a powerful mirror that can reflect lasers between Earth and the moon, per the NASA statement.

What was the goal of the laser ranging retroreflector?

The laser ranging retroreflector (LRRR), which was left on the lunar surface by the Apollo 11 crew, was a retroreflector array with a folding support structure for aiming and aligning the array toward earth.

Can a laser pointer touch the Moon?

The typical red laser pointer is about 5 milliwatts, and a good one has a tight enough beam to actually hit the Moon—though it’d be spread out over a large fraction of the surface when it got there. The atmosphere would distort the beam a bit, and absorb some of it, but most of the light would make it.

How does a Retroreflector work?

A retroreflector is an optical device that returns an oncoming beam of light back to its source. While ordinary flat mirrors also reflect light, the light isn’t reflected back to the source but off to the side at the same angle the beam arrived.

How long does it take for a laser to reach the Moon?

Well, let’s see: The Moon is about 238,000 from the Earth and the speed of light is about 186,000 miles/second. So 238/186 = about 1.3 seconds (one way). If the reflection from the Apollo retro reflector is being used or measured, double the 1.3 second for a (about) 2.5 second round trip.

How are lasers used to measure the distance to the Moon?

The distance can be calculated from the round-trip time of laser light pulses travelling at the speed of light, which are reflected back to Earth by the Moon’s surface or by one of five retroreflectors installed on the Moon during the Apollo program (11, 14, and 15) and Lunokhod 1 and 2 missions.

How refraction and reflection are used in retro reflectors?

Retroreflector Geometry Retroreflectors reflect incident light back toward the direction of the light source, operating over a wide range of angles of incidence. Typically they are constructed in one of two different forms, 90-deg corner cubes or high index-of-refraction transparent spheres with a reflective backing.

What is the difference between reflective and retro-reflective?

There is a big difference. Reflective tape acts as a mirror, so it sends the light back out in different directions. Retro-reflective material is made with tens of thousands of tiny glass beads that reflect light and send a focused image directly back to the original light source. These designs light you up at night!