Radar Echoes from the Moon at a Wavelength of 10 CM

Radar contact has been made with the moon with short pulses at 2860 mc, beginning a program of short-pulse lunar radar. The principal objective of the program is to obtain more accurate moon-to-earth distances than presently are known. Other information may result from the program, such as the earth´s diameter, the interplanetary electron density, and the lunar surface characteristics. To date, the program has yielded the following results: earthmoon distances have been measured over several days with consistencies of less than one-half mile; several rough reflectivity measurements have been made which indicate that the radar cross section of the moon is 975 square miles at 2860 mc with pulses of 2-¿sec duration, and the fine structure of echoes may be correlated with lunar topography.