Laser Applications in Ground-Based and Space Observations (Marking 60 Years since the First Experiments on Lunar Laser Ranging)

Abstract

The first experiments on lunar laser ranging, which were carried out by Soviet and American scientists, date back to the early 1960s. Those studies refined the main parameters of the Earth–Moon system and achieved a considerable progress in solving the problems of selenodesy, astrometry, geodesy, and geophysics. The beginning of space exploration of the Moon and the planets of the Solar System gave scientists and engineers worldwide an opportunity to conduct both ground-based and space observations using laser reflectors onboard low-orbit and geodynamic satellites, space probes, and robotic rovers on the surface of the Moon and planets. Future remote and contact scientific studies of the lunar surface are expected to provide new information about the Earth–Moon system.