LUNAR LASER RANGING - LLR

Contacts:
ILRS Central Bureau NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Code 920.1 Greenbelt
MD 20771 USA
e-mail: cb@ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov
phone: ++1-301-614-5969
fax: ++1-301-614-5970

ILRS

International Laser Ranging Service


LLR measures the round-trip travel times of light pulses between stations on the Earth and four retroreflectors on the surface of the Moon.

In addition to its value for lunar sciences and the theory of gravitation, LLR is a key IERS technique for connecting reference frames. LLR is used to determine the obliquity of the ecliptic, the orientation of the dynamical frame of the Solar System in the extragalactic reference frame, and long-period nutation and precession.

The envisioned improvements in accuracy (a few millimeters in range) and network distribution (planned stations all around the world) could enhance the LLR contribution to IERS for the next decade.

Description of the french LLR station, located in Grasse (France), can be found here (CERGA) and that of the McDonald Observatory (USA) there (MLRS) .