Related papers: Lunar laser ranging: the millimeter challenge
Gravitational-wave detection has been pursued relentlessly for over 40 years. With the imminent operation of a new generation of laser interferometers, it is expected that detections will become a common occurrence. The research into more…
Observations at radio wavelengths address key problems in astrophysics, astrobiology, and lunar structure including the first light in the Universe (the Epoch of Reionization), the presence of magnetic fields around extrasolar planets,…
The Laser Ranging Interferometer onboard the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission proved the feasibility of an interferometric sensor for inter-satellite length tracking with sub-nanometer precision, establishing an…
The lunar surface has historically been considered an optimal site for a broad range of astronomical telescopes. That assumption, which has come to be somewhat reflexive, is critically examined in this paper and found to be poorly…
In this Chapter we deal with the attempts to measure the general relativistic gravitomagnetic Lense-Thirring effect with the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) technique applied to the existing LAGEOS and LAGEOS II terrestrial satellites and to…
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) 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…
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…
The Laser Interferometer Lunar Antenna (LILA) is a next-generation gravitational-wave (GW) facility on the Moon. By harnessing the Moon's unique environment, LILA fills a critical observational gap in the mid-band GW spectrum ($0.1 - 10$…
The lunar geological record has much to tell us about the earliest history of the Solar System, the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, the geological evolution of rocky planets, and the near-Earth cosmic environment throughout…
We present the results of measuring the geocentric lunar distance using what we propose is the simplest method to achieve a precise result. Although lunar distance has been systematically measured to a precision of few millimeters using…
The null findings of the terrestrially conducted Michelson-Morley type experiments have been influential to determining which physical theory best fits reality. Here, we propose the use of parallax and ranging techniques of distance…
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…
The Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity (LATOR) is a Michelson-Morley-type experiment designed to achieve a major improvement in the accuracy of the tests of relativistic gravity in the solar system. By using a combination of independent…
LLR measures the distance between observatories on Earth and retro-reflectors on Moon since 1969. In this paper, we study the possible violation of the equality of passive and active gravitational mass ($m_{a}/m_{p}$), for Aluminium (Al)…
This is a (very) personal attempt to summarize the status of neutrino astronomy: its scientific motivations, our understanding of natural water and ice as particle detectors and, finally, the detector technology.
This paper discusses new fundamental physics experiment to test relativistic gravity at the accuracy better than the effects of the 2nd order in the gravitational field strength. The Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity (LATOR) mission uses…
In this work some aspects of the detection of certain general relativistic effects in the weak gravitational field of the Earth via laser-ranged data to some existing or proposed geodetic satellites are examined. The focus is on the…
Gravitomagnetism--a motional coupling of matter analogous to the Lorentz force in electromagnetism--has observable consequences for any scenario involving differing mass currents. Examples include gyroscopes located near a rotating massive…
We present data from the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) covering the 15-year span from April 2006 through the end of 2020. APOLLO measures the earth-moon separation by recording the round-trip travel time of…