Astrobotic PM-1 mission, CLPS mission with NASA and commercial payloads Options

[Phil Stooke]

I am starting a new thread for this mission which should fly this year.

Phil

[Explorer1]

Well, there's no functioning seismometers on the moon at the moment to benefit, so that's a bit of an issue.
I do agree that the payloads that can be released, may as well be. There is nothing to lose, is there?

[HSchirmer]

Well, there's no functioning seismometers on the moon at the moment to benefit, so that's a bit of an issue.

Yep, that's a problem.
Hmm, I thought somebody had gotten seismic data in recent years using the old Apollo laser retroflector array (LRA)... or perhaps I'm misremembering, and it was just modern re-analysis of old Apollo data.

But, "if you knew the impact time in advance, could the existing array of Apollo laser retroreflectors be used to obtain usable seismic data, extracted from the jitter of the laser signal?" seems like an interesting nerdy question, (or homework for a graduate physics course).
But to GET that level of precision on impact time, you'd have to get precise measurements of Peregrine's trajectory. Probably, the range & orbit can be roughly calculated based on loss of signal going behind the moon / reacquisition of signal upon emergence?
Fortunately, IIRC Peregrine does have a next-gen laser retroreflector mounted on its deck, so perhaps it would be possible to use the retroreflector to get more precise distance and angle measurements over time? Then use that prediction of impact time to turn on ranging lasers and see if the Apollo LRA shows any jiggle.

Who knows, perhaps the Psyche laser communication cat-video could be reused to paint the lunar LRA during predicted impact? (Quick review) as a rough guess, a 267 megabit per second laser signal SEEMS like it should contain enough information to identify signal jitter caused by from siesmic events shaking the LRA?