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Retroreflector Standards for GNSS Satellites

ILRS Technology and Engineering Activities

The service collects, merges, analyzes, archives and distributes Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) observation data sets to satisfy the objectives of scientific, engineering, and operational applications and programs. The basic observables are the precise two-way time-of-flight of an ultrashort laser pulse to a retroreflector array on a satellite or the Moon and the one-way time of flight to a space borne receiver (transponder). These data sets are made available to the community and are also used by the ILRS to generate fundamental data products, including: accurate satellite ephemerides, Earth orientation parameters, three-dimensional coordinates and velocities of the ILRS tracking stations, time-varying geocenter coordinates, static and time-varying coefficients of the Earth's gravity field, fundamental physical constants, lunar ephemerides and librations, and lunar orientation parameters.

Recent News

Passing of Dr. Jorge del Pino - University of Latvia, Riga Station - It is with great sadness that we relay to the ILRS community a message from Kalvis Salmins and Ludwig Grunwaldt, informing us of the passing of our ILRS colleague Dr. Jorge del Pino.

Our colleague and friend Dr. Jorge del Pino, a long-term member of laser ranging community, passed away on Friday, January 17, 2025.

Born 1949 in Havana, his lifelong career in satellite observations started in the 1970s at the satellite tracking station Santiago de Cuba which operated a 1^st generation laser system starting in 1977. In 1985, he defended his PhD thesis dedicated to the efficient second-harmonic generation for laser ranging at the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Jorge del Pino became the Cuban manager of the Intercosmos project of a 2^nd generation SLR system which was operated between 1985 and 1998 in cooperation between ZIPE/GFZ Potsdam and CENAIS in Santiago de Cuba. He also contributed major parts of the real-time tracking software for the 3rd generation SLR systems in Potsdam.

Since 2013, he worked at Institute of Astronomy University of Latvia. Dr. Jorge del Pino contributed to the renewal of the SLR station Riga and to improving its performance. He participated in the station operations until the last days of his life. We will miss him greatly.

On behalf of the ILRS, our sincere condolences to his loved ones.

Passing of Dr. Henry Herman Plotkin - May 6, 1927 – January 9, 2025 - It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Henry H. Plotkin on January 9th, 2025. Dr. Plotkin had a distinguished long career as a researcher, manager, and senior executive with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He pioneered the development of satellite laser ranging and communication, leading to the first successful satellite laser ranging experiment at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1964, and the development and flight of optical instruments and sensors for space science and earth observation. He was the initiator and manager of Center and Agency programs to expand spacecraft, Space Station, and science instrument capabilities through use of new technologies. As the lead of the NASA GSFC Optical Systems Branch from 1960 to 1967, he pioneered development of lasers and optical systems for ultra-precise space tracking and high-rate optical communications. He proposed and developed the first series of reflecting geodetic satellites and initiated the international network of laser stations for gravity studies and crustal dynamics. He was a member of original team for the Apollo Lunar Laser Reflectors that were placed on the moon during the Apollo 11, 14, and 15 missions. He managed space technology programs in precision atomic frequency standards, information processing and data storage, microwave and radio communications and tracking.

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Yebes (YEBL-7817) Station, Spain, joins the ILRS Network - The ILRS Analysis Standing Committee, has successfully completed the qualification for operational status for the Yebes SLR station (7817) in the ILRS network. The system demonstrates a 2.1 to 2.7 mm Normal Point (NP) precision on the two LAGEOS and LARES-2 targets, and about 5.6 mm on LARES. The QC results show negligible biases to within the statistical uncertainty of the analyses. The present analyses were conducted with the laser ranging data at 1064 nm, and the default values for the satellite CoM offsets. Performance at 532 nm will continue to be monitored. All of the quarantined data has been placed in the public domain.

We welcome the station to the network!