MoonLIGHT

MoonLIGHT was planned to be launched in July 2020 as a secondary payload on the MX-1E lunar lander built by the private company Moon Express.

MPAc is an INFN development for ESA, with auxiliary support by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for prototyping work.

In 2021, ESA agreed with NASA to launch MPAc with a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission.

The retroreflector (mirrors) send the pulse straight back to the originating telescope where the round trip time—and therefore the exact distance—is recorded.

[5] The MX-1E lander was planned to land on the Malapert Mountain, a 5 km tall peak in the Aitken Basin region that has an uninterrupted direct line of sight to Earth.