24 research outputs found
The GPS Laser Retroreflector Array Project
Systematic co-location in space through the precision orbit determination of GPS satellites via satellite laser ranging will contribute significantly towards improving the accuracy and stability of the international terrestrial reference frame. NASA recently formed the GPS Laser Retroreflector Array Project to develop and deliver retroreflectors for integration on the next generation of GPS satellites. These retroreflectors will be an important contributor to achieving a global accuracy of 1.0 mm and 0.1 mm/year stability in the international terrestrial reference frame. We report here the current status of the GPS Laser Retroreflector Array Project
Tests of gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging
Lunar laser ranging (LLR) has been a workhorse for testing general relativity over the pa~t four decades. The three retrorefiector arrays put on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts and the French built array on the second Soviet Lunokhod rover continue to be useful targets, and have provided the most stringent tests of the Strong Equivalence Principle and the time variation of Newton's gravitational constant. The relatively new ranging system at the Apache Point :3.5 meter telescope now routinely makes millimeter level range measurements. Incredibly. it has taken 40 years for ground station technology to advance to the point where characteristics of the lunar retrorefiectors are limiting the precision of the range measurements. In this article. we review the gravitational science and technology of lunar laser ranging and discuss prospects for the future
Hollow Retroreflectors for Lunar Laser Ranging at Goddard Space Flight Center
Laser ranging to the retroreflector arrays placed on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts and the Soviet Luna missions have dramatically increased our understanding of gravitational physics along with Earth and Moon geophysics, geodesy, and dynamics. Although the precision of the range measurements has historically been limited by the ground station capabilities, advances in the APOLLO instrument at the Apache Point facility in New Mexico is beginning to be limited by errors associated with the lunar arrays. At Goddard Space Flight Center, we have developed a facility where we can design, build, and test next-generation hollow retroreflectors for Lunar Laser Ranging. Here we will describe this facility as well as report on the bonding techniques used to assemble the retroreflectors. Results from investigations into different high reflectivity mirror coatings, as well as dust mitigation coatings will also be presented
Errors on the inverse problem solution for a noisy spherical gravitational wave antenna
A single spherical antenna is capable of measuring the direction and
polarization of a gravitational wave. It is possible to solve the inverse
problem using only linear algebra even in the presence of noise. The simplicity
of this solution enables one to explore the error on the solution using
standard techniques. In this paper we derive the error on the direction and
polarization measurements of a gravitational wave. We show that the solid angle
error and the uncertainty on the wave amplitude are direction independent. We
also discuss the possibility of determining the polarization amplitudes with
isotropic sensitivity for any given gravitational wave source.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX2e, IOP style, submitted to CQ
The TIGA technique for detecting gravitational waves with a spherical antenna
We report the results of a theoretical and experimental study of a spherical
gravitational wave antenna. We show that it is possible to understand the data
from a spherical antenna with 6 radial resonant transducers attached to the
surface in the truncated icosahedral arrangement. We find that the errors
associated with small deviations from the ideal case are small compared to
other sources of error, such as a finite signal-to-noise ratio. An in situ
measurement technique is developed along with a general algorithm that
describes a procedure for determining the direction of an external force acting
on the antenna, including the force from a gravitational wave, using a
combination of the transducer responses. The practicality of these techniques
was verified on a room-temperature prototype antenna.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Direct-detection Free-space Laser Transceiver Test-bed
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is developing a direct-detection free-space laser communications transceiver test bed. The laser transmitter is a master-oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration using a 1060 nm wavelength laser-diode with a two-stage multi-watt Ytterbium fiber amplifier. Dual Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulators provide an extinction ratio greater than 40 dB. The MOPA design delivered 10-W average power with low-duty-cycle PPM waveforms and achieved 1.7 kW peak power. We use pulse-position modulation format with a pseudo-noise code header to assist clock recovery and frame boundary identification. We are examining the use of low-density-parity-check (LDPC) codes for forward error correction. Our receiver uses an InGaAsP 1 mm diameter photocathode hybrid photomultiplier tube (HPMT) cooled with a thermo-electric cooler. The HPMT has 25% single-photon detection efficiency at 1064 nm wavelength with a dark count rate of 60,000/s at -22 degrees Celsius and a single-photon impulse response of 0.9 ns. We report on progress toward demonstrating a combined laser communications and ranging field experiment
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from Challenge 1B to Challenge 3
The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a programme to demonstrate and encourage
the development of LISA data-analysis capabilities, tools and techniques. At
the time of this workshop, three rounds of challenges had been completed, and
the next was about to start. In this article we provide a critical analysis of
entries to the latest completed round, Challenge 1B. The entries confirm the
consolidation of a range of data-analysis techniques for Galactic and
massive--black-hole binaries, and they include the first convincing examples of
detection and parameter estimation of extreme--mass-ratio inspiral sources. In
this article we also introduce the next round, Challenge 3. Its data sets
feature more realistic waveform models (e.g., Galactic binaries may now chirp,
and massive--black-hole binaries may precess due to spin interactions), as well
as new source classes (bursts from cosmic strings, isotropic stochastic
backgrounds) and more complicated nonsymmetric instrument noise.Comment: 20 pages, 3 EPS figures. Proceedings of the 12th Gravitational Wave
Data Analysis Workshop, Cambridge MA, 13--16 December 2007. Typos correcte