Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging

Lunar laser ranging (LLR) has been a workhorse for testing general relativity over the past four decades. The three retroreflector arrays put on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts and the French built arrays on the Soviet Lunokhod rovers continue to be useful targets, and have provided the most strin...

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Main Author: Stephen M. Merkowitz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2010-11-01
Series:Living Reviews in Relativity
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2010-7
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spelling doaj-1b5e7ba4cbf64e518d1de2136c7d072e2020-11-25T00:37:40ZengSpringerOpenLiving Reviews in Relativity1433-83512010-11-01137Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser RangingStephen M. MerkowitzLunar laser ranging (LLR) has been a workhorse for testing general relativity over the past four decades. The three retroreflector arrays put on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts and the French built arrays on the Soviet Lunokhod rovers continue to be useful targets, and have provided the most stringent tests of the Strong Equivalence Principle and the time variation of Newton’s gravitational constant. The relatively new ranging system at the Apache Point 3.5 meter telescope now routinely makes millimeter level range measurements. Incredibly, it has taken 40 years for ground station technology to advance to the point where characteristics of the lunar retroreflectors are limiting the precision of the range measurements. In this article, we review the gravitational science and technology of lunar laser ranging and discuss prospects for the future. http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2010-7General relativityTests of relativity
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Stephen M. Merkowitz
spellingShingle Stephen M. Merkowitz
Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging
Living Reviews in Relativity
General relativity
Tests of relativity
author_facet Stephen M. Merkowitz
author_sort Stephen M. Merkowitz
title Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging
title_short Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging
title_full Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging
title_fullStr Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging
title_full_unstemmed Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging
title_sort tests of gravity using lunar laser ranging
publisher SpringerOpen
series Living Reviews in Relativity
issn 1433-8351
publishDate 2010-11-01
description Lunar laser ranging (LLR) has been a workhorse for testing general relativity over the past four decades. The three retroreflector arrays put on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts and the French built arrays on the Soviet Lunokhod rovers continue to be useful targets, and have provided the most stringent tests of the Strong Equivalence Principle and the time variation of Newton’s gravitational constant. The relatively new ranging system at the Apache Point 3.5 meter telescope now routinely makes millimeter level range measurements. Incredibly, it has taken 40 years for ground station technology to advance to the point where characteristics of the lunar retroreflectors are limiting the precision of the range measurements. In this article, we review the gravitational science and technology of lunar laser ranging and discuss prospects for the future.
topic General relativity
Tests of relativity
url http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2010-7
work_keys_str_mv AT stephenmmerkowitz testsofgravityusinglunarlaserranging
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