Can you actually do this?(laser shooting to moon)

[supernova1203]

Found this on youtube, wasnt sure if this is actually possible, i never heard of the astronauts actually leaving stuff on the moon.

 

[Jimmy]

Yes, it's possible- and it's been done.

http://funphysics.jpl.nasa.gov/technical/grp/lunar-laser.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_experiment

 

[turbo]

Yes. If you leave a mirrored target shaped like the intersection of 3 walls of a cube, the light will come directly back to the area from which the pulse was fired.

 

[Drakkith]

Found this on youtube, wasnt sure if this is actually possible, i never heard of the astronauts actually leaving stuff on the moon.

Look up the apollo missions on wikipedia. You can find plenty of info on the experiments left behind.

 

[Jobrag]

It's a good point to mention to Apollo hoax believers, they tend to start mumbling when you point out that there is proof that stuff was left behind.

 

[cuad]

Jobrag, they'd respond with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rvmBEsTcoU&t=05m59s

Summary: National Geographic and the New York Times both report, years before apollo 11, that the US and the Soviet Union were bouncing lasers off the moon.

 

[leprechaun0]

Yes it is incredible, even 40 years later. As a consequence Nasa can measure the moon's distance to millimeter resolution( maybe more , not sure). They also use it to help calculate the orbit of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. I have to assume it has been used to impress a woman at one point in time also.

 

[Chronos]

But, not with the precision achievable with LLRE. It's been nailed down to a matter of millimeters now.