Que pourra-t-on deduire des mesures de distance terre-lune par laser?

Extract

Although several lunar laser ranging stations exist, only one is now fully operational: the McDonald station with internal observational errors of less than 15 cm. The interpretation of the data involves a great number of parameters relative to the Earth and the Moon which are listed.

The lunar laser is particularly fit for those parameters that pertain to the Moon, and with future lasers accurate to 2 or 3 cm, it may be expected that this accuracy will be projected into these parameters. The probable determination of the semi-major axis to 1 cm accuracy for a few months mean would imply a new means of determining the non conservative part of the motion of the Moon. A similar precision is to be expected for the rotation of the Moon. The situation for the Earth parameters (Earth rotation and polar motion) is not so good, because of a rather weak geometry of the problem and the monthly one week gap in the observations. Nevertheless, it will give a very useful external check on other competing methods (radio-interferometry, laser or radio-satellites).