Earth rotation and polar motion from laser ranging to the moon and artificial satellites

Earth-based laser ranging to artificial satellites and to the moon is considered as a technique for monitoring the Earth's polar motion and diurnal rotation. The kinematics of Earth rotation as related to laser ranging is outlined. The current status of laser ranging as regards its measuring capabilities is reviewed. The relative merits of artificial satellite and lunar laser ranging are pointed out. It appears that multistation combined artificial satellite and lunar laser ranging is likely to ultimately meet a 0.002 arcseconds in pole position and 0.1 msec in UT1 daily precision requirement.