{"id":2470,"date":"2021-04-25T14:36:47","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T19:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.csr.utexas.edu\/?page_id=2470"},"modified":"2021-04-25T14:47:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T19:47:20","slug":"mlrs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/mlrs\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald Laser Ranging Station"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2476\" src=\"https:\/\/www.csr.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/mlrsdomes.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"533\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/mlrsdomes.jpg 533w, https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/mlrsdomes-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/mlrsdomes-80x55.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3>University of Texas McDonald Observatory<br \/>\nNear Ft. Davis, Texas<\/h3>\n<h3>Introduction<\/h3>\n<p>The McDonald Laser Ranging Station (MLRS) is a dedicated laser ranging station capable of measuring round trip light travel times to a constellation of artificial earth satellites and lunar retro-reflectors to a precision of about 1 centimeter and time of laser firing to about 35 picoseconds. Data from this station as well as 30-40 similar satellite-capable systems and one other regularly contributing lunar-capable system around the world are used for a variety of scientific pursuits including study of the earth&#8217;s gravitational field, plate tectonics, earth&#8217;s orientation in space, high precision time transfer, relativity, lunar and solar system dynamics, and providing high precision orbits for GPS and ocean top mapping missions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.csr.utexas.edu\/mlrs\/history-of-laser-ranging-and-mlrs\/\">MLRS History<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/network\/stations\/inactive\/MDOL_station_info.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Configuration<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/missions\/satellite_missions\/current_missions\/index.html\">Targets<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"pictures\/MLRS_+_domes.gif\">Bigger view of the site<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"pictures\/mlrsofft.jpg\">Another view of the site<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"pictures\/lunar_ra.jpg\">Ranging the Moon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"pictures\/fowlkesr.jpg\">&#8220;Rainbow Ranging&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"pictures\/mcdo.gif\">Site Map<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Laser Ranging Data<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/data_and_products\/formats\/index.html\">Laser Data Ranging Format<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/data_and_products\/data_centers\/index.html\">Laser Ranging Data (all targets, all stations)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Related Web Sites<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/ilrs_home.html\">International Laser Ranging Service<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.as.utexas.edu\">McDonald Observatory and the Department of Astronomy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Acknowledgements<\/h3>\n<p>This project is funded by<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>NASA Goddard Space Flight Center<\/li>\n<li>NASA Headquarters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i>For comments or further information e-mail <a href=\"mailto:rlr@astro.as.utexas.edu\">rlr@astro.as.utexas.edu<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<h6><i>Last updated: 10\/05\/12<\/i><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Texas McDonald Observatory Near Ft. Davis, Texas Introduction The McDonald Laser Ranging Station (MLRS) is a dedicated laser ranging station capable of measuring round trip light travel times [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2470"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2480,"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2470\/revisions\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}