Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Newhall, X..
Analysis of 24 years of lunar laser ranging data has been used to test the Principle of Equivalence, geodetic precession, the PPN parameters beta and gamma, and G(dot)/G.
Laser ranges to retroreflectors placed on the Moon by lunar space missions have been collected over the past 24 years.
On July 21, 1969, the first manned lunar mission, Apollo 11, placed the first retroreflector array on the Moon, enabling highly accurate measurements of the Earth-Moon separation via laser ranging.
From the analysis of 24 year of lunar laser ranges, the correction to the IAU lunisolar precession constant is found to be -3.2 plus or minus 0.3 mas/yr for a total value of 50.3846 inches.
24 years of Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) observations and 15 years of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations are combined in a global analysis to yield improved estimates of the Earth precession and nutation.
This oral presentation describes the techniques, algorithms, and results of incorporatng a Kalman-smoothing technique into the square-root information filter when estimating deterministic and stochastic parameters relating to Earth, the Moon, and the lunar and planetary ephemerides.
This paper summarizes the underlying Kalman approach and highlights the techniques, algorithms, and results of its implementation.