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.