DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF SOLID AND HOLLOW CUBE CORNER REFLECTORS AND HOLDERS.
Abstract
The report describes the design and analysis of two types of cube corner reflectors, solid and hollow. If placed on the lunar surface with the aid of suitable soft landing spacecraft optical cube corners could be used with an earth laser system for selenodetic studies of the moon. With proper sun shielding, it should be possible to operate the cube corner reflector system during 100 percent of the lunar night and approximately 30 to 50 percent of the lunar day. Considering the displacement (due to velocity aberration) of the returned signal to colocated sending/ receiving optics to the observatory by a lunar retroreflector, a maximum return is obtained using a reflector aperture of 11 centimeters for laser radiation of 7000A. The advantages and disadvantages of the hollow and solid cube corner designs are discussed. Final decision as to the one which is most suited to this application must await the outcome of environmental testing. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 15, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0640497
Entities
People
- William M. Meyers
Organizations
- General Electric