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Does the Voyager spacecraft have instruments capable of detecting laser light if shone at them? New Horizons certainly does. Any other probes?

Is there any laser capable of accuracy and power enough to be detected at that distance?

And finally, would such an exercise teach us something new? Or if a planet/moon atmosphere was in the path?

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  • $\begingroup$ Voyager has some cameras, but they've been switched off for decades now: space.stackexchange.com/questions/3756/… $\endgroup$
    – Hobbes
    Commented Jan 13, 2019 at 16:36
  • $\begingroup$ An optical telescope with a large diameter of 1 m or 2 and a very sensitive receiver like a photomultiplier at the space probe and a powerful laser with a large telescope at the Earth would be needed. $\endgroup$
    – Uwe
    Commented Jan 13, 2019 at 18:52
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    $\begingroup$ Lorri on new horizons would have the best chance I think, but the earth is awfully close to the sun seen from there. The missing element is probably a narrow band filter that could exclude all colors except the laser $\endgroup$
    – Steve Linton
    Commented Jan 13, 2019 at 19:03
  • $\begingroup$ @SteveLinton you're great at exploring these kinds of questions, consider expanding on that in an answer? Maybe even consider if a future probe's long range imager's filter wheel included a narrow-band filter, and everyone on one side of the Earth pointed every laser-pointer they could find at the same point at the same time? Or if an optical communications ground link terminal did it, or the tight ~10 nanosecond pulses of a lunar ranging station was used? $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Jan 13, 2019 at 22:42
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    $\begingroup$ The narrow band filter that could exclude all colors except the laser is a good idea. Using a wavelength for the laser that is very weak in sunlight and reflected light from Earth may be helpful too. $\endgroup$
    – Uwe
    Commented Jan 13, 2019 at 22:46

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