China’s New Space Laser Can Find A Satellite 130,000 Kilometers Away – Even During The Day

In a world first, Chinese scientists have been able to find a satellite using an infrared laser during the daytime. The approach was able to find the Tiandu-1 satellite at a distance of about 130,000 kilometers (81,000 miles) from Earth, well beyond where most satellites are located. The satellite and its twin are, in fact, orbiting the Moon. The laser was sent from a station on Earth, bounced off a retroreflector device on Tiandu-1 (a test satellite for lunar communication and navigation), and reached Earth again in less than a second, where it was seen by the 1.2-meter telescope at…