Lunar laser ranging (LLR) is used to conduct high-precision measurements of ranges between an observatory on Earth and a laser retroreflector on the lunar surface. Over the years, LLR has benefited from a number of improvements both in observing technology and data modeling, which led to the current accuracy of postfit residuals of ~2 cm. Today LLR is a primary technique to study the dynamics of the Earth–Moon system and is especially important for gravitational physics, geodesy, and studies of the lunar interior. When the gravitational physics is concerned, LLR is used to perform high-accuracy tests of the equivalence principle, to search for a time variation in the gravitational constant, and to test predictions of various alternative theories of gravity. The gravitational physics parameters cause both secular and periodic effects on the lunar orbit that are detectable with the present day LLR; in addition, the accuracy of their determination benefits from the 35 years of the LLR data span. On the geodesy front, LLR contributes to the determination of Earth orientation parameters, such as nutation, precession (including relativistic precession), polar motion, and UT1, i.e., especially to the long-term variation of these effects.
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Müller, J., Williams, J.G., Turyshev, S.G. (2008). Lunar Laser Ranging Contributions to Relativity and Geodesy. In: Dittus, H., Lammerzahl, C., Turyshev, S.G. (eds) Lasers, Clocks and Drag-Free Control. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 349. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-34377-6_21
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