[RaRic]

Does this technology require clear skies/do clouds block the laser?

[krasin]

>The ground stations are at White Sands in New Mexico, at a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory site in Wrightwood, California, and a European Space Agency site in Tenerife, Spain.

At least two of these stations are located in mostly-dry climate.

[InclinedPlane]

The laser uses infrared light with a wavelength of 1550 nm, where the atmosphere is typically transparent even with clouds or rain.