Related papers: Millimeter Laser Ranging to the Moon: a comprehens…
Laser pulses fired at retroreflectors on the Moon provide very accurate ranges. Analysis yields information on Earth, Moon, and orbit. The highly accurate retroreflector positions have uncertainties less than a meter. Tides on the Moon show…
Analysis of Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data provides science results: gravitational physics and ephemeris information from the orbit, lunar science from rotation and solid-body tides, and Earth science. Sensitive tests of gravitational…
This paper provides an overview of the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiments. The measurement principle is explained and its theory is derived. Both contributions, the direct reflected light from retroreflectors as well as the scattered…
Lunar laser ranging (LLR) currently delivers mm-class tests of relativistic gravity and the lunar interior, but further gains are limited by photon-starved pulsed systems, array-induced pulse broadening, and atmospheric variability. This…
More than 30 years of lunar laser ranging has produced several key tests of gravitational theory, including confirmation that bodies fall in external gravity at rates independent of their internal gravitational binding energy, and that…
We present the first constraints on pure-gravity sector Standard-Model Extension (SME) parameters using Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR). LLR measures the round trip travel time of light between the Earth and the Moon. With 34+ years of LLR data,…
Modern radio astrometry has reached the limit of the resolution that is determined by the size of the Earth. The only way to overcome that limit is to create the radio telescopes outside our planet. It is proposed to build an autonomous…
Lunar laser ranging analysis, as regularly performed in the solar system barycentric frame, requires the presence of the gravitomagnetic term in the equation of motion at the strength predicted by general relativity. The same term is…
At present, tracking data for planetary missions largely consists of radio observables: range-rate range and angular position. Future planetary missions may use Interplanetary Laser Ranging (ILR) as a tracking observable. Two-way ILR will…
Lunar laser ranging (LLR) to the Apollo retro-reflectors, which features the most long-lasting experiment in testing General Relativity theories, has remained operational over the past four decades. To date, with significant improvement of…
Three possible applications of lunar laser ranging to space geodesy are studied. First, the determination of daily Earth orientation parameters (UT0 and variation of latitude), which is rarely used nowadays in presence of all-year VLBI,…
Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is an established technique providing very accurate position measurements of satellites in Earth orbit. However, despite decades of development, it remains a complex and expensive technology, which impedes its…
During the past century Einstein's theory of General Relativity gave rise to an experimental triumph, however, there are still aspects of this theory to be measured or more accurately tested. One of the main challenges in experimental…
Autonomous precision navigation to land onto the Moon relies on vision sensors. Computer vision algorithms are designed, trained and tested using synthetic simulations. High quality terrain models have been produced by Moon orbiters…
This paper addresses the motivation, technology and recent results in the tests of the general theory of relativity (GR) in the solar system. We specifically discuss Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR), the only technique available to test the Strong…
The MOND paradigm to the missing mass problem requires introducing a functional that is to be identified through observations and experiments. We consider AQUAL theory as a realization of the MOND. We show that the accurate value of the…
Accurate analysis of precision ranges to the Moon has provided several tests of gravitational theory including the Equivalence Principle, geodetic precession, parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters $\gamma$ and $\beta$, and the…
We present new constraints on Lorentz symmetry (LS) violations with lunar laser ranging (LLR). Those constraints are derived in the standard-model extension (SME) framework aiming at parameterizing any LS deviations in all sectors of…
The lunar geological record contains a rich archive of the history of the inner Solar System, including information relevant to understanding the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, the geological evolution of rocky planets, and…
Lorentz symmetry violations can be parametrized by an effective field theory framework that contains both general relativity and the standard model of particle physics called the standard-model extension (SME). We present new constraints on…