Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
In February 1957 the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory was successful in obtaining radar echoes from the moon by using a short-pulse radar [1]. Although the signal-to-noise ratio was not as large as desired, the leading edge of the echo was sufficiently well defined to make possible an accurate measurement of the radar distance to the moon. It was hoped that geodetic information could be extracted from such distance measurements. Hence in October and November, 1957, the radar distance to the moon was measured with a radar mounted in the 50-foot steerable parabola at NRL.