Related papers: Lunar Laser Ranging Science
New concepts were recently proposed for gravitational-wave (GW) detectors on the Moon. These include laser-interferometric detectors, proposed as free-range or optical-fiber interferometers, and inertial acceleration sensors. Some of them…
The position of a Martian lander is affected by different aspects of Mars' rotational motions: the nutations, the precession, the length-of-day variations and the polar motion. These various motions have a different signature in a Doppler…
The Moon is known to have a small liquid core, and it is thought that in the distant past the core may have produced strong magnetic fields recorded in lunar samples. Here we implement a numerical model of lunar orbital and rotational…
Inertial sensors stimulate very large interest, not only for their application but also for fundamental physics tests. Ring laser gyros, which measure angular rotation rate, are certainly among the most sensitive inertial sensors, with…
We report the detection of the lunar gamma-ray emission during the first year of Fermi-LAT observations. Such emission is produced by cosmic ray nuclei interacting with the lunar surface. Thanks to the solar minimum conditions and the…
Precise measurements of neutron star observables (such as mass and radius) allow one to constrain the equations of state for supranuclear matter and develop a stronger understanding of nuclear physics. The Neutron star Interior Composition…
In the presence of a weak gravitational wave (GW) background, astrophysical binary systems act as high-quality resonators, with efficient transfer of energy and momentum between the orbit and a harmonic GW leading to potentially detectable…
We report observations of the lunar helium exosphere made between December 29, 2011, and January 26, 2012, with the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) ultraviolet spectrograph on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission (LRO). The…
Shear strength and cohesion of granular materials are important geotechnical properties that play a crucial role in the stability and behavior of lunar and Martian regolith, as well as their terrestrial analog materials. To characterize and…
Violations of Lorentz Invariance, a cornerstone of modern physics, are predicted by theories of quantum gravity and by extensions of General Relativity involving new vector or tensor fields. In the weak-field limit, such a violation would…
Efforts are underway to measure the global 21 cm signal from neutral hydrogen, which is a powerful probe of the early universe, using NASA radio telescopes on the far side of the Moon. Physics-based models of the signal are computationally…
The general relativistic Lense-Thirring effect can be measured by inspecting a suitable combination of the orbital residuals of the nodes of LAGEOS and LAGEOS II and the perigee of LAGEOS II. The solid and ocean Earth tides affect the…
Over the course of 3.1 years we determined the position of Mars on 75 dates using a handheld cross staff and two to five bright reference stars of known right ascension and declination on each occasion. On average the observed positions of…
The past decade has witnessed a growing interest in lunar exploration missions. The autonomy of lunar surface and in-orbit missions is, however, dependent on accurate and instantaneous navigation services. These services can not be provided…
Small scale jet-induced erosion experiments are useful for identifying the scaling of erosion with respect to the various physical parameters (gravity, grain size, gas velocity, gas density, grain density, etc.), and because they provide a…
We develop a high-precision model for laser ranging interferometric (LRI) observables of the GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission. For this, we study the propagation of an electromagnetic wave in the gravitational field in the vicinity of an…
The lifetime of free neutrons measured in the lab has a long standing disparity of $\sim$9~s. A space-based technique has recently been proposed to independently measure the neutron lifetime using interactions between the galactic cosmic…
We derive from first principles equations governing (a) the quadrupole tensor of a star distorted by both rotation and the presence of a companion in a possibly eccentric orbit, (b) a functional form for the dissipative force of tidal…
We present radio observations of the Moon between $35$ and $80$ MHz to demonstrate a novel technique of interferometrically measuring large-scale diffuse emission extending far beyond the primary beam (global signal) for the first time. In…
Forming the Moon by a high-angular momentum impact may explain the Earth-Moon isotopic similarities, however, the post-impact angular momentum needs to be reduced by a factor of 2 or more to the current value (1 L_EM) after the Moon forms.…