This technology is not new. During the Apollo era, astronauts installed five reflectors on the surface of the moon. Each reflector contains at least 100 mirrors. It can reflect in any direction. For example, by reflecting the light on these panels. Scientists have been able to understand that the moon is moving away from the earth at a rate of about 1.5 inches per year. Planetary scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center said: Now that we have collected 50 years of data. We can see some trends. Without these 50 years of accumulation, we would not be able to see this return signal. The science of laser pointer ranging is a long game.
But over time, the reflector on the moon became less and less efficient in reflecting light back to the earth. Some scientists suspect that this is due to dust raised by micrometeorites falling on the surface of the reflector. Causes the reflector to overheat. If this is the case, scientists need to know exactly why. This is where the recent lunar reconnaissance orbiter laser experiment comes in. If scientists find that the data returned by the laser pointer reflector of the lunar reconnaissance orbiter is different from the data on the lunar surface. Can reveal what causes the lunar reflector to reduce the efficiency. Then the scientist can explain these differences in the model.