In a move that feels straight out of your favorite sci-fi movie, China has just marked a major milestone in space exploration! On Wednesday, engineers successfully conducted the first satellite laser ranging experiment at lunar-distance scales, precisely measuring distances about 350,000 kilometers away—the exact gap between Earth and its moon 🚀.
The breakthrough was achieved using a 1.2-meter-aperture ground-based laser ranging system that tracked the DRO-A satellite in an orbit known as the Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO), a natural space harbor in the vast cosmos.
What makes this story even more epic is the 123-day rescue effort. Although the DRO-A satellite missed its intended orbit at launch, experts at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) turned the challenge into a win by guiding the satellite to safety.
This achievement isn’t just about precise measurements—it has paved the way for a new navigation system, enabling auto-piloted satellites to operate in the enormous Earth-moon space, which is nearly 10,000 times larger than the traditional Low Earth Orbit. This breakthrough opens a thrilling new chapter in deep-space exploration.
China's success in this mission is a powerful reminder that innovation and persistence can launch us into new frontiers. The future of space exploration is looking brighter than ever! 🌌
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China achieves its 1st lunar-distance satellite laser ranging
cgtn.com
