NASA engineers proposed creating a system of corner reflectors (reflectors) on the Moon to facilitate the future landing of spacecraft on the surface of the satellite. The initiative is called the Lunar Retroreflector Array (LRA) or “Lunar Retroreflector Network” portal Space.com.
Reflectors are small dome-shaped devices with eight glass prisms. Such a hemisphere weighs only 20 grams and does not require power.
Once on the Moon, they will reflect beams from onboard laser altimeters and optical radars, allowing landers to navigate more accurately and choose the best landing sites.
The first component of the future retroreflector network was delivered to the Moon by the Indian Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft in August last year.
NASA has sent an LRA element to the Moon aboard Astrobotic’s custom Peregrine lunar lander, but it is unlikely to achieve that goal due to a launch accident that left the module deprived of much of its necessary fuel.
The space agency hopes to bring more LRA devices to the Moon with subsequent missions; The closest of these will be carried out by the Japanese SLIM lander. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will land on the satellite surface on January 20.
happened before known about postponing future lunar missions with human crews by at least a year due to technical problems.