Abstract

The launching in 1989 of two Soviet passive étalon Earth satellites carrying many retroreflectors and the successful work of several ground stations equipped with laser ranging systems makes it possible for the Soviet Union to play an active role in the international efforts to create high-precision time/coordinate service and to solve fundamental problems in geodesy, geophysics, and geodynamics. In addition to the well-known satellites used in the Intercosmos program, several other Soviet-made retroreflector-carrying satellites in orbit: GEOIC is a component of geodetic satellite systems.

© 1991 Optical Society of America