TianQin is a planned space-based gravitational wave (GW) observatory consisting of three Earth-orbiting satellites with an orbital radius of about $10^5 \, {\rm km}$. The satellites will form an equilateral triangle constellation the plane of which is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. TianQin aims to detect GWs between $10^{-4} \, {\rm Hz}$ and $1 \, {\rm Hz}$ that can be generated by a wide variety of important astrophysical and cosmological sources, including the inspiral of Galactic ultra-compact binaries, the inspiral of stellar-mass black hole binaries, extreme mass ratio inspirals, the merger of massive black hole binaries, and possibly the energetic processes in the very early universe and exotic sources such as cosmic strings. In order to start science operations around 2035, a roadmap called the 0123 plan is being used to bring the key technologies of TianQin to maturity, supported by the construction of a series of research facilities on the ground. Two major projects of the 0123 plan are being carried out. In this process, the team has created a new-generation $17 \, {\rm cm}$ single-body hollow corner-cube retro-reflector which was launched with the QueQiao satellite on 21 May 2018; a new laser-ranging station equipped with a $1.2 \, {\rm m}$ telescope has been constructed and the station has successfully ranged to all five retro-reflectors on the Moon; and the TianQin-1 experimental satellite was launched on 20 December 2019—the first-round result shows that the satellite has exceeded all of its mission requirements.
As the signal reflected by the corner-cube reflector arrays is very weak and easily submerged during the full moon, we analyze the influence of the thermal effect of corner-cube reflector arrays on the intensity of lunar laser ranging echo. Laser ranging measurements during the penumbra lunar eclipse verify suspected thermal deformation in the Lunakhod 2 reflectors. Signal levels vary over two orders of magnitude as the penumbra eclipse progresses. This can be explained by the change in the dihedral angle of the corner-cube reflectors caused by the temperature. The results show that when the dihedral angle errors reach 1″, the energy is reduced by 100 times compared with the ideal corner-cube reflector. In the experiment, our findings suggest that when the corner-cube reflector arrays enter the penumbra of the earth, the effective echo signal level which reaches 0.18 photons/s far exceeds the historical level of the full moon. However, 11 minutes after the penumbra lunar eclipse, the effective echo rate of Lunakhod 2 will drop two orders of magnitude. The mechanism can explain the acute signal deficit observed at full moon.
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