"NASA's Laser 'Pings' Chandrayaan-3 Lander on Moon, Paving the Way for Precise Lunar Landings"

A NASA spacecraft orbiting the Moon has successfully pinged India's Chandrayaan-3 mission's Vikram lander using a laser instrument, marking a new way to precisely locate targets on the Moon's surface. The laser beam was transmitted and reflected between the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the lander, demonstrating the potential for this technique in future lunar missions. The retroreflector on the lander, developed in partnership between NASA and ISRO, has been used to measure the Moon's distance from Earth and is now serving as a fiducial point on the Moon.