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Earth Tidal Amplitude and Phase

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Abstract

DURING the summer and autumn of 1970 a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center laser tracking system tracked the Beacon Explorer C spacecraft from the Goddard Optical Facility in Greenbelt, Maryland. The tracking system provided distance measurements to the satellite at a rate of one per second with a precision of 30 to 50 cm on as many as four consecutive passes each day, weather permitting. The satellite, Beacon Explorer C, carries laser retro-reflectors and is in a near circular orbit at an altitude of about 1,000 km with an inclination to the equator of 41°.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geodynamics Branch, Geodynamics Program Division, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

    DAVID E. SMITH & RONALD KOLENKIEWICZ

  2. Wolf Research and Development Corporation, Riverdale, Maryland

    PETER J. DUNN

Authors
  1. DAVID E. SMITH
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  2. RONALD KOLENKIEWICZ
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  3. PETER J. DUNN
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SMITH, D., KOLENKIEWICZ, R. & DUNN, P. Earth Tidal Amplitude and Phase. Nature 244, 498–499 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/244498a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/244498a0

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