As the signal reflected by the corner-cube reflector arrays is very weak and easily submerged during the full moon,we analyze the influence of the thermal effect of corner-cube reflector arrays on the intensity of lun...As the signal reflected by the corner-cube reflector arrays is very weak and easily submerged during the full moon,we analyze the influence of the thermal effect of corner-cube reflector arrays on the intensity of lunar laser ranging echo.Laser ranging measurements during the penumbra lunar eclipse verify suspected thermal deformation in the Lunakhod 2 reflectors.Signal levels vary over two orders of magnitude as the penumbra eclipse progresses.This can be explained by the change in the dihedral angle of the corner-cube reflectors caused by the temperature.The results show that when the dihedral angle errors reach 1,the energy is reduced by 100 times compared with the ideal corner-cube reflector.In the experiment,our findings suggest that when the corner-cube reflector arrays enter the penumbra of the earth,the effective echo signal level which reaches 0.18 photons/s far exceeds the historical level of the full moon.However,11 minutes after the penumbra lunar eclipse,the effective echo rate of Lunakhod 2 will drop two orders of magnitude.The mechanism can explain the acute signal deficit observed at full moon.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12033009)。
文摘As the signal reflected by the corner-cube reflector arrays is very weak and easily submerged during the full moon,we analyze the influence of the thermal effect of corner-cube reflector arrays on the intensity of lunar laser ranging echo.Laser ranging measurements during the penumbra lunar eclipse verify suspected thermal deformation in the Lunakhod 2 reflectors.Signal levels vary over two orders of magnitude as the penumbra eclipse progresses.This can be explained by the change in the dihedral angle of the corner-cube reflectors caused by the temperature.The results show that when the dihedral angle errors reach 1,the energy is reduced by 100 times compared with the ideal corner-cube reflector.In the experiment,our findings suggest that when the corner-cube reflector arrays enter the penumbra of the earth,the effective echo signal level which reaches 0.18 photons/s far exceeds the historical level of the full moon.However,11 minutes after the penumbra lunar eclipse,the effective echo rate of Lunakhod 2 will drop two orders of magnitude.The mechanism can explain the acute signal deficit observed at full moon.
