Related papers: Laser and Radio Tracking for Planetary Science Mis…
Doppler tracking of interplanetary spacecraft provides the only method presently available for broad-band searches of low frequency gravitational waves. The instruments have a peak sensitivity around the reciprocal of the round-trip…
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…
Just as the ordinary Doppler effect serves as a tool to measure radial velocities of celestial objects, so can the relativistic Doppler effect be implemented to measure a combination of radial and transverse velocities by using recent…
Phobos Laser Ranging (PLR) is a concept for a space mission designed to advance tests of relativistic gravity in the solar system. PLR's primary objective is to measure the curvature of space around the Sun, represented by the Eddington…
The laws of gravitation have been tested for a long time with steadily improving precision, leading at some moment of time to paradigmatic evolutions. Pursuing this continual effort is of great importance for science. In this communication,…
Interplanetary links (IPL) serve as crucial enablers for space exploration, facilitating secure and adaptable space missions. An integrated IPL with inter-satellite communication (IP-ISL) establishes a unified deep space network, expanding…
LLR measures the distance between observatories on Earth and retro-reflectors on Moon since 1969. In this paper, we estimate the Earth Rotation Parameters (ERP; terrestrial pole offsets, $x_p$ and $y_p$, and Earth rotation phase,…
We present constraints on violations of Lorentz Invariance based on Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data. LLR measures the Earth-Moon separation by timing the round-trip travel of light between the two bodies, and is currently accurate to a few…
The GRACE Follow-On satellite mission measures distance variations between the two satellites in order to derive monthly gravity field maps, indicating mass variability on Earth on a few 100 km scale due to hydrology, seismology,…
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…
Recent and upcoming stabilized spectrographs are pushing the frontier for Doppler spectroscopy to detect and characterize low-mass planets. Specifications for these instruments are so impressive that intrinsic stellar variability is…
We experimentally demonstrate a novel interferometric architecture for next-generation gravity missions, featuring a laser ranging interferometer (LRI) that enables monoaxial transmission and reception of laser beams between two optical…
Many physical parameters that can be estimated from space mission tracking data influence both the translational dynamics and proper time rates of observers. These different proper time rates cause a variability of the time transfer…
Deep-space laser ranging will be ideal for testing relativistic gravity, and mapping the solar-system to an unprecedented accuracy. ASTROD (Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices) and ASTROD I are such missions.…
Doppler radars are routinely used for the remote sensing of oceanic surface currents and atmospheric wind profiles. Even though they operate at different frequencies and address different media, they follow very similar processing for the…
It is suggested that modern techniques of radio ranging when applied to study the motion of the Moon, can improve the accuracy of tests of relativistic gravitation obtained with currently operating laser ranging techniques. Other auxillary…
Doppler Imaging produces 2D global maps of rotating objects using high-dispersion spectroscopy. When applied to brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets, this technique can constrain global atmospheric dynamics and/or magnetic effects on these…
We are developing a stable and precise spectrograph for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) named "iLocater." The instrument comprises three principal components: a cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph that operates in the YJ-bands…
The Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR) experiment is designed to explore general theory of relativity in the close proximity to the Sun -- the most intense gravitational environment in the solar system. Using independent…
We present results from a covariance study for the proposed Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR) mission. This mission would send two laser-transmitter spacecraft behind the Sun and measure the relative gravitational light bending…