Elcabildo
It sounds like science fiction: shooting a laser beam at a satellite orbiting the moon in “broad daylight”. But that’s exactly what China’s space scientists have just achieved, stunning the world and hitting a historic deep-space targeting milestone. This accomplishment is not just a dazzling technical stunt—it could transform how humanity navigates and communicates in the lunar neighborhood and beyond.
Imagine trying to spot a tiny point of light, like a pinpoint of a strand of hair from nearly four miles away, while sunlight floods the sky. That’s the extreme precision the Chinese Deep Space Exploration Laboratory team mastered using the Tiandu-1 satellite. This daylight laser ranging feat, completed in early 2024, overcame the huge obstacles posed by the sun’s glare—something that had held back similar efforts worldwide.
How China’s precision laser advances lunar navigation technology
Hitting a satellite with a laser beam from Earth during the day is a task requiring accuracy so sharp it boggles the mind. China’s new system locks on to the Tiandu-1 satellite, which is part of a trio launched this year to create a lunar communication and positioning network. The team describes the accuracy as akin to “hitting a single hair from 4 miles away”—an amazing testament to their mastery of optics, timing, and orbital mechanics.
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