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This story was originally published by NASA and is unaltered.
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Laser Instrument on NASA’s LRO Successfully ‘Pings’ Indian Moon Lander [1]

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Date: 2024-01

LOLA works by dispatching five laser beams toward the Moon and measuring how long it takes each one to bounce back (the quicker the light returns, the less distance between LOLA and the surface, and thus the higher the elevation in that area). Each laser beam covers an area 32 feet, or 10 meters, wide, from a 62-mile, or 100-kilometer, altitude. Because there are large gaps between the beams, there is only a small chance that the laser pulse can contact a retroreflector during each pass of the lunar orbiter over the lander.

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[1] Url: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/lro/laser-instrument-on-nasas-lro-successfully-pings-indian-moon-lander/

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