Time and laser ranging: a window of opportunity for geodesy, navigation and metrology

Recent progress in the domain of time and frequency (T/F) standards requires important improvements of existing time distribution links. Among these, the accuracy of time transfer is actually an important part of the concerns in order to establish and maintain time & space references from ground and/or space facilities. Several time transfers by laser link projects have been carried out over the past 10 years with numerous scientific and metrological objectives. Satellite Laser ranging (SLR) has proven to be a fundamental tool, offering a straightforward, conceptually simple, highly accurate and unambiguous observable. Depending on the mission, LR is used to transmit time over two-way or one-way distances from 500 to several millions of km. The following missions and their objectives employed this technique: European Laser Timing (ELT) at 450 km, Time Transfer by Laser Link (T2L2) at 1,336 km, Laser Time Transfer (LTT) at 36,000 km, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) at 350,000 km, and MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) at tens of million km. This article describes the synergy between SLR and T/F technologies developed on the ground and in space and as well as the state of the art of their exploitation. The performance and sources of limitation of such space missions are analyzed. It shows that current and future challenges lie in the improvement of the time accuracy and stability of the time for ground geodetic observatories. The role of the next generation of SLR systems is emphasized both in space and at ground level, from the point of view of GGOS and valuable exploitation of the synergy between time synchronization, ranging and data transfer.

French transportable laser ranging station: scientific objectives, technical features, and performance

The French Transportable Laser Ranging Station (FTLRS) is a highly mobile satellite laser ranging (SLR) system unit that weighs 300 kg and is housed in eight containers. This telemetry laser station is dedicated to the tracking of geodetic satellites equipped with retroreflectors. There are fascinating uses in the geosciences for such a system: in tectonics, oceanography, terrestrial reference frames, and precise positioning. The idea is to use a very small 13-cm-diameter telescope installed on a motorized mount and derived from a geodetic motorized theodolite of high precision. The laser is also compact, and the use of an avalanche photodiode makes detection possible at a single photoelectron level. On-site installation of this new SLR system is fast, and the system's routine operation is quite automated. It started its operational phase in late 1996. At present, it can track satellites at altitudes of as much as 3000 km and is designed to range to the Laser Geodynamic Earth Orientation Satellite (LAGEOS) at 6000 km in a further step. The standard error of individual measurements during the first observation campaign in Corsica is estimated to be of the order of 2-3 cm. Since then, significant improvements have been implemented. A technical description of the FTLRS is given, and the main results of the Corsica campaign are summarized.