Abstract
Only a few sites on Earth are technically equipped to carry out Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) to retroreflector arrays on the surface of the Moon. Despite the weak signal, they have successfully provided LLR range data for about 49 years, generating about 26,000 normal points. Recent system upgrades and new observatories have made millimeter-level range accuracy achievable. Based on appropriate modeling and sophisticated data analysis, LLR is able to determine many parameters associated with Earth–Moon dynamics, involving the lunar ephemeris, lunar physics, the Moon’s interior, reference frames and Earth orientation parameters. LLR has also become one of the strongest tools for testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity in the solar system. By extending the standard solution, it is possible to solve for parameters related to gravitational physics, like the temporal variation of the gravitational constant, metric parameters as well as the strong equivalence principle, preferred-frame effects and standard-model extensions. This paper provides a review about LLR measurement and analysis. After a short historical overview, we describe the key findings of LLR, the apparatus and technologies involved, the requisite modeling techniques, some recent results and future prospects on all fronts. We expect continued improvements in LLR, maintaining its lead in contributing to science.
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Acknowledgements
Some of the text contributed by T.W. Murphy is similar to the text in another review article by Murphy (2013); both that article and this one were originally solicited in the same month. Current LLR data are collected, archived and distributed under the auspices of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) (Pearlman et al. 2002). We acknowledge with thanks that the more than 49 years of processed LLR data have been obtained under the efforts of the personnel at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in France, the LURE Observatory in Maui, Hawaii, the McDonald Observatory in Texas as well as the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico and the Matera Laser Ranging station in Italy. We would also like to thank the International Space Science Institute (ISSI, http://www.issibern.ch/teams/lunarlaser) in Bern for supporting this research. LLR-related research at the University of Hannover was funded by the DFG, the German Research Foundation, within the research units FOR584 “Earth rotation and global dynamic processes” and FOR1503 “Space-Time Reference Systems for Monitoring Global Change and for Precise Navigation in Space.” APOLLO results are based on access to and observations with the Apache Point Observatory 3.5-m telescope, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium. APOLLO is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (PHY-1404491) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX-15AC51G). Portions of the research described in this paper were carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology and the Center for Space Research of the University of Texas at Austin, under contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. US government sponsorship acknowledged.
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Müller, J., Murphy, T.W., Schreiber, U. et al. Lunar Laser Ranging: a tool for general relativity, lunar geophysics and Earth science. J Geod 93, 2195–2210 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01296-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01296-0