SATELLITE LASER RANGING ACCURACY AT PRESENT AND FOR THE FUTURE

Schillak S.

Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences Astrogeodynamical Observatory Borowiec, Poland

The accuracy of experiment results is the most important criterion for usefulness of the method and the application of results. This parameter is especially important for Satellite Laser Ranging due to high costs of this method. The best SLR Systems achieve accuracy of satellite distance about +/-1 cm. This value is result of precision of measurements and systematical biases in the observational process. The paper present short discription and estimation of components of random distribution and the main systematical errors. That review of accuracy components is the base for future possibility of elimination of main errors sources. Is one milimeter accuracy really possible to obtain in the near future?