Related papers: Corner-cube retro-reflector instrument for advance…
High-precision corner-cube retroreflectors (CCRs) are critical for advanced lunar laser ranging (LLR) because they enable sub-millimeter-scale measurements of the Earth-Moon distance -- a level of precision essential for rigorous tests of…
We present a high-power continuous-wave (CW) lunar laser ranging (LLR) technique that has the potential to significantly improve Earth--Moon distance measurements. Using a 1 kW CW laser at 1064 nm and a 1 m-aperture telescope as an example,…
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…
The Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiment has accumulated 50 years of range data of improving accuracy from ground stations to the laser retroreflector arrays (LRAs) on the lunar surface. The upcoming decade offers several opportunities to…
Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) measurements are crucial for advanced exploration of the laws of fundamental gravitational physics and geophysics. Current LLR technology allows us to measure distances to the Moon with a precision approaching 1…
Lunar laser ranging (LLR) is used to conduct high-precision measurements of ranges between an observatory on Earth and a laser retro-reflector on the lunar surface. Over the years, LLR has benefited from a number of improvements both in…
This paper primarily investigates the effect of the tilt of corner cube reflector (CCR) arrays on lunar laser ranging (LLR). A mathematical model was established to study the random errors caused by the tilt of the CCR arrays. The study…
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…
Precise measurements of the Earth-Moon distance by the lunar laser ranging (LLR), which begun in the early 1970's, contributed significantly to geodesy, geophysics, and lunar planetology, as well as enabled astrophysicists to perform…
Because of lunar librations, the retroreflectors left on the moon do not, in general, face directly at the Earth. Usually this is regarded as a disadvantage. It results in a spread of arrival times, because each cube that comprises the…
Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) measurements are crucial for advanced exploration of the evolutionary history of the lunar orbit, the laws of fundamental gravitational physics, selenophysics and geophysics as well as for future human missions to…
Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR), which has been carried out for more than 35 years, is used to determine many parameters within the Earth-Moon system. This includes coordinates of terrestrial ranging stations and that of lunar retro-reflectors,…
Lunar retro-reflector arrays (LRAs) consisting of corner-cube reflectors (CCRs) placed on the nearside of the Moon during the Apollo era have demonstrated their longevity, cost-effectiveness, ease of deployment, and most importantly their…
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…
More precise lunar and Martian ranging will enable unprecedented tests of Einstein's theory of General Relativity and well as lunar and planetary science. NASA is currently planning several missions to return to the Moon, and it is natural…
Forty years ago, Apollo astronauts placed the first of several retroreflector arrays on the lunar surface. Their continued usefulness for laser-ranging might suggest that the lunar environment does not damage optical devices. However, new…
Lunar laser ranging has provided many of the best tests of gravitation since the first Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon. The march to higher precision continues to this day, now entering the millimeter regime, and promising continued…
In this note we mainly explore the possibility of measuring the action of the intrinsic gravitomagnetic field of the rotating Earth on the orbital motion of the Moon with the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) technique. Expected improvements in it…
Since 1969, Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data have been collected by various observatories and analysed by different analysis groups. In the recent years, observations with bigger telescopes (APOLLO) and at infra-red wavelength (OCA) are…
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…