New robotic lunar landings may take place during next decade. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has requested proposals for interesting and compelling physics experiments to be performed with the severe weight, size, power and deployment restrictions inherent to lunar sorties. MoonLIGHT-R is a proposal for improving by a factor 1000 or more the accuracy of the current Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiment, performed since 1969 with retro-reflector arrays deployed by Apollo 11, 14 and 15. LLR is the only Apollo experiment still taking data today. Achieving this goal requires a new, different thermal, optical and mechanical design of the retro-reflector array and detailed simulations and experimental tests. MoonLIGHT-R is a light, compact, very-long lasting, maintenance-free and completely passive payload. MoonLIGHT-R will perform accurate tests of General Relativity (GR) already with the existing ILRS systems (like ASI-MLRO) . This accuracy will get better and better as laser technologies improve over the next few decades, like they did relentlessly since the invention of the laser in the '60s. A specific cosmological model, which explains the acceleration of the Universe via modified GR at very large distances, can be fully tested by measuring an anomalous precession of the Moon perigee. A high scientific return is guaranteed. We are committed to the space-climatic and laser-optical simulation (and, at a later stage, experimental characterization) of the new LLR array using the LNF Space Climatic Facility (SCF). The payload construction and deployment is an opportunity for the national industries. Preliminary space-climatic simulations and payload specs are presented in this LNF report.
G. et al. (Thu,) studied this question.