The laser reflector has been used for years. I believe we have an astronomer on site. perhaps he could shed further light on this. But, I believe we went. Just am curious as to ehy we did not pursue to moon further and jumped to Mars exploration when there are so many mineral potentials on the moon.
Laser Ranging Retro-reflector Experiment
"The reflected laser beam is observed with the telescope, providing a measurement of the round-trip distance between Earth and the Moon. Laser beams are used because they remain tightly focused for large distances " -excerpt