NASA’s New Mars Rover Is Ready for Space Lasers – Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Perseverance is one of a few Mars spacecraft carrying laser retroreflectors. The devices could provide new science and safer Mars landings in the future.
When the Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon, they
brought devices with them called retroreflectors, which are essentially small
arrays of mirrors. The plan was for scientists on Earth to aim lasers at them
and calculate the time it took for the beams to return. This provided exceptionally
precise measurements of the Moon’s orbit and shap…

Click here to view the original article.