Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram is now a landmark on Moon

Subject: S&T

Section: Space Technology

Context:

Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram is now firmly established as a landmark on the Moon.

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A NASA spacecraft which is currently orbiting the Moon has sent laser beams to a tiny mirror-based instrument onboard Vikram.
It has successfully received the reflected beams, verifying the possibility of a new way to precisely locate objects on the Moon.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) performed the laser beam experiment on December 12 last year.
The beams were made to bounce off the Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA), a 2-inch wide dome-shaped instrument studded with eight finely-polished mirrors.
The mirrors are oriented in such a way that they can tap and reflect light coming in from any direction.
With this experiment all the seven payloads on Vikram, and the two on Pragyaan rover, have now been tested and verified to have functioned as designed.
This is not the first LRA to be deployed on the Moon as such instruments were placed by the Apollo missions as well.
One of these instruments revealed that the Moon was moving away from the Earth by a rate of about 1.5 inches a year.

About Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA):

Accommodated on Vikram as part of Chandrayaan3 mission, the LRA comprises eight retroreflectors on a hemispherical support structure.
This array facilitates lasers ranging from various directions by any orbiting spacecraft with suitable instruments.
The two-inch-wide LRA is designed to last for decades on the lunar surface.
It weighs only about 20 grams and does not require power or maintenance.
The instrument has no electronics and does not need power or maintenance and thus can remain useful for years, even decades
Since its lunar landing, Vikram has been accessible for measurements from the altimeter on LRO, called LOLA.
LRA on Chandrayaan-3 is the only one currently available near the lunar south pole and its applications as a location marker would benefit current and future lunar missions.
Measurements recorded using the LRA will help in the precise determination of the spacecraft’s orbital position and reveal insights into the moon’s dynamics, internal structure, and gravitational anomalies.

About Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO):

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit.
Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA’s future human and robotic missions to the Moon.
LRO was the first United States mission to the Moon in over ten years.
It was Launched on June 18th 2009 in conjunction with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS).
LRO and LCROSS were launched as part of the United States’s Vision for Space Exploration program.