Related papers: High-Precision Lunar Corner-Cube Retroreflectors: …
Lunar laser ranging (LLR) has made major contributions to our understanding of the Moon's internal structure and the dynamics of the Earth-Moon system. Because of the recent improvements of the ground-based laser ranging facilities, the…
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…
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…
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) 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…
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…
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) 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…
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…
Compound refractive lenses (CRL) offer outstanding potential for probe formation in X-ray micro- and nano-analysis as well as for imaging applications, but effective aberration-free focusing of X-rays is a key consideration when high…
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…
Surface brightness-colour relations (SBCRs) are used to derive the stellar angular diameters from photometric observations. They have various astrophysical applications, such as the distance determination of eclipsing binaries or the…
The passive retroreflector arrays placed on the moon by Apollo 11, 14 and 15 astronauts continue to produce valuable Earth-Moon range measurements that enable high-precision tests of gravitational physics, as well as studies of geo- and…
Circular Polarisation Ratio (CPR) mosaics from Mini-SAR on Chandrayaan-1 and Mini-RF on LRO are used to study craters near to the lunar north pole. The look direction of the detectors strongly affects the appearance of the crater CPR maps.…
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…
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…
This paper focuses on the optimal design of a modulated retroreflector (MRR) laser link to establish a high-speed downlink for cube satellites (CubeSats), taking into account the weight and power limitations commonly encountered by these…
A single-mode Cs atom 852 nm Faraday laser based on the corner cube feedback is demonstrated, and termed as corner-cube-feedback Faraday laser. Using the corner-cube retroreflector as external cavity feedback element in Faraday laser,…
Lunar occultation (LO) technique in the near-infrared provides angular resolution down to milliarcseconds on the occulted source even with ground-based 1m class telescopes. LO observations are limited to brighter objects because they…