this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024
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I'm not a radio engineer, but my understanding is you're just bouncing signals off the moon itself, there isn't a device that echos the signal back or anything. There are mirrors on the moon to reflect lasers back though.
They left a couple retro reflectors on the moon during the moon landings so we can bounce lasers off them to accurately measure the distance to the moon.
I think that’s what they meant, cuz a ping to a radio device wouldn’t prove much, just that you are getting signals from up there. A laser would prove definitively.