List of retroreflectors on the Moon

The locations of lunar retroreflectors left by Apollo (A) and Luna (L) missions.

Retroreflectors are devices which reflect light back to its source. Six retroreflectors were left at six sites on the Moon by three crews of the Apollo program, two by remote landers of the Lunokhod program, one by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program and one by the Chandrayaan program. ^[1] Lunar reflectors have enabled precise measurement of the Earth–Moon distance since 1969 using lunar laser ranging. ^[2]

There have been several additional attempts to land retroreflectors on the lunar surface which were unsuccessful, and several future attempts are planned.

Successfully placed reflectors

Operator	Mission	Name	Date	Location	Coordinates	Size	Status	Comment
NASA	Apollo 11	LRRR	21 July 1969	Mare Tranquillitatis	0°40′24″N23°28′23″E / 0.6734°N 23.4731°E / 0.6734; 23.4731 [3]	46×46 cm [4]	Operational	[5]
Soviet Union	Luna 17	Lunokhod 1	17 November 1970	Mare Imbrium	38°18′55″N35°00′29″W / 38.3152°N 35.0080°W / 38.3152; -35.0080 [3]	44×19 cm [1]	Operational	Rediscovered in 2010 [6] [7] [8] [9]
NASA	Apollo 14	LRRR	31 January 1971	Fra Mauro formation	3°38′39″S17°28′43″W / 3.6442°S 17.4786°W / -3.6442; -17.4786 [3]	46×46 cm	Operational	[10]
NASA	Apollo 15	LRRR	31 July 1971	Hadley–Apennine	26°08′00″N3°37′43″E / 26.1334°N 3.6285°E / 26.1334; 3.6285 [3]	105×65 cm	Operational	[11]
Soviet Union	Luna 21	Lunokhod 2	15 January 1973	Le Monnier crater	25°49′56″N30°55′20″E / 25.8323°N 30.9221°E / 25.8323; 30.9221 [3]	44×19 cm [1]	Operational	[12] [13]
ISRO	Chandrayaan-3	Vikram	23 August 2023	Statio Shiv Shakti	69°22′03″S32°20′53″E / 69.367621°S 32.348126°E / -69.367621; 32.348126	5.11 cm diameter [14]	Operational	[15] [16] [17] [18]
University of Maryland	Blue Ghost Mission 1	Next Generation Lunar Retroreflectors (NGLR) on Blue Ghost Mission 1	March 2, 2025	Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille	18°34′N61°49′E / 18.56°N 61.81°E / 18.56; 61.81 [19]	17x13x12 cm	Operational	[20] [21] [22]

Attempted and planned reflectors

Operator	Mission	Name	Date	Location	Coordinates	Status	Comment
SpaceIL, IAI	Beresheet	Beresheet	11 April 2019	Mare Serenitatis	32°35′44″N19°20′59″E / 32.5956°N 19.3496°E / 32.5956; 19.3496	Crashed	[23] [24] [25]
ISRO	Chandrayaan-2	Vikram	6 September 2019		70°52′52″S22°47′02″E / 70.8810°S 22.7840°E / -70.8810; 22.7840	Crashed	[26] [27]
Moon Express	Lunar Scout	MoonLIGHT on MX-1E	July 2020	Malapert Mountain	84°54′S12°54′E / 84.9°S 12.9°E / -84.9; 12.9	Cancelled	[28] [29]
Astrobotic	Mission One	LRA on Peregrine	May 2023	Lacus Mortis		Aborted, controlled re-entry	[30]
Roscosmos	Luna 25	Luna 25	August 2023	Pontécoulant G crater	57°51′54″S61°21′36″E / 57.865°S 61.360°E / -57.865; 61.360	Crashed	[31] [32] [33]
Intuitive Machines	IM-1	LRA on Nova-C IM-1	February 2024	Malapert (crater)	80°08′S1°26′E / 80.13°S 1.44°E / -80.13; 1.44	Failed	[34] [30]
Intuitive Machines	IM-2	LRA on Nova-C IM-2	6 March 2025	Mons Mouton	85°S31°W / 85°S 31°W / -85; -31	Failed

Gallery

• 
  Apollo 11 Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector
• 
  Apollo 14 retroreflector
• 
  Close-up of Apollo 15 retroreflector
• 
  Model of Lunokhod 2. The retroreflector is the hexagonal box with open lid in the front.

See also

• Lunar Laser Ranging experiment
• List of artificial objects on the Moon
• List of missions to the Moon

References

1. Lunar Retroreflectors
2. Slava G. Turyshev: From Quantum to Cosmos: Fundamental Physics Research in Space (2009), p. 300
3. Wagner, R. V.; Speyerer, E. J.; Burns, K. N.; Danton, J.; Robinson, M. S. (1 August 2012). "Revised Coordinates for Apollo Hardware". The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. XXXIX-B4. Copernicus GmbH: 517–521. Bibcode:2012ISPAr39B4..517W. doi: 10.5194/isprsarchives-XXXIX-B4-517-2012 .
4. Newman, Michael E. (26 September 2017). "To the Moon and Back … in 2.5 Seconds". NIST. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
5. "What Neil & Buzz Left on the Moon: A cutting-edge science experiment left behind in the Sea of Tranquility by Apollo 11 astronauts is still running today". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 20 July 2004. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
6. "Lost Soviet Reflecting Device Rediscovered on the Moon". Space.com. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
7. "LROC Observation M114185541R". Arizona State University. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
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10. "Apollo 14: The Eighth Mission: The Third Lunar Landing: 31 January–09 February 1971". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on 14 November 2004. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
11. Archinal, Brent (13 April 2010). "The Apollo 15 Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector – A Fundamental Point on the Moon!". Arizona State University. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
12. "USSR – Luna 21".
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14. "Chandrayaan 3 – LRA".
15. "Chandrayaan-3". ISRO. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
16. Dhillon, Amrit (23 August 2023). "India lands spacecraft near south pole of moon in historic first". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 August 2023.
17. "Laser Instrument on NASA's LRO Successfully 'Pings' Indian Moon Lander" . Retrieved 30 January 2024.
18. "Instrument on Chandrayaan-3 lander started serving as a location marker near lunar south pole" . Retrieved 30 January 2024.
19. "Blue Ghost Mission 1 (Firefly)". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA . Retrieved 2 March 2025.
20. "Blue Ghost Mission 1". Firefly Aerospace. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
21. "Next Gen Retroreflectors Launch to the Moon - UMD Physics". umdphysics.umd.edu. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
22. "Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR)". NASA.
23. Beresheet crash caused by manual command, but reflector device may have survived. Georgina Torbet, Digital Trends. 21 April 2019.
24. Warner, Cheryl (10 April 2019). "Update on First Private Robotic Spacecraft Attempt at Moon Landing". NASA. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
25. Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crash site spotted on moon, 15 May 2019
26. "Vikram lander located on lunar surface, wasn't a soft landing: Isro". The Times of India. 8 September 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
27. Bartels, Meghan (24 March 2019). "How NASA Scrambled to Add Science Experiments to Israeli, Indian Moon Probes" . Retrieved 25 March 2019.
28. Internatioinal Lunar Observatory to offer a new astrophysical perspective. Tonasz Nowakowski. Spaceflight Insider. 12 August 2017.
29. UMD, Italy & MoonEx Join to Put New Laser-Reflecting Arrays on Moon Archived 22 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine . Lee Tune, University of Maryland. 10 June 2015.
30. Etherington, Darrell (23 January 2020). "NASA reveals the payloads for the first commercial moon cargo deliveries". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
31. "Luna-25 (Luna-Glob Lander) Payload". www.iki.rssi.ru. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
32. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
33. "Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into the moon, ending its bid to reach the lunar south pole". Associated Press . 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
34. "Intuitive Machines-1 Orbital Debris Assessment Report (ODAR) Revision 1.1" (PDF). Intuitive Machines . FCC. 22 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.