Found on the Moon: A Soviet Laser Reflector That Was Lost for 40 Years

Four decades ago, the Soviet Union put a reflector on the moon able to bounce laser signals back to the Earth. There was just one problem: They lost it. But now the marooned reflector has been found, thanks to the determined hunting of University of California, San Diego researchers. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, in orbit around the moon, photographed the landing area where the USSR's Luna 17 mission dropped off the missing reflector, Lunokhod 1, in 1970. The photos turned up a faint reflective dot, and the team thought that was it. With an idea now where to point their own laser, the researchers received a stronger signal back from Lunokhod 1 than they ever had in years of studying its sister craft, Lunokhod 2.