Laser ranging and very-long baseline interferometry for geodetic applications

Three distinct tasks were undertaken to advance the application of space techniques to the measurement of geodetic parameters: error analyses were performed to estimate the accuracy with which the locations of satellite tracking stations and the motion of the earth's pole may be determined from laser-ranging observations of the LAGEOS satellite; a numerical model of the moon's rotation was developed to support the analysis of lunar laser ranging observations; and a very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) system was constructed and installed at the Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden for use in a program to monitor the earth's rotation through observations of extragalactic radio sources. The details of this work have been described in three previously published reports.