中国物理B ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (5): 50602-050602.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac3068
Tian-Quan Gao(高添泉), Cai-Shi Zhang(张才士), Hong-Chao Zhao(赵宏超), Li-Xiang Zhou(周立祥), Xian-Lin Wu(吴先霖), Hsienchi Yeh(叶贤基), and Ming Li(李明)
Tian-Quan Gao(高添泉), Cai-Shi Zhang(张才士), Hong-Chao Zhao(赵宏超), Li-Xiang Zhou(周立祥), Xian-Lin Wu(吴先霖), Hsienchi Yeh(叶贤基), and Ming Li(李明)†
摘要: 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.
中图分类号: (Measurements common to several branches of physics and astronomy)