Updated:  22 November 2005

MOBLAS 5 Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) Station

MOBLAS 5 SLR Observatory
New Mt Stromlo Facility rebuilt 2004 after 2003 fires

The Moblas 5 (Yarragadee) SLR facility is located 100 kilometres south east of Geraldton, Western Australia, on the Yatharagga property. The observatory plays an important part in the Australian and International geodetic framework and has been operational since 1979. The observatory is near the Universal Space Networks (USN) Radio Telescope. The MOBLAS 5 Observatory and the USN Telescope are displayed in this aerial view image.

The Moblas 5 (Yarragadee) SLR facility is one of two SLR units managed by Geoscience Australia and currently operated under contract by Electro Optic Systems (EOS). The second facility is at Mt Stromlo near Canberra. NASA operates a number of Moblas facilities around the world and owns the MOBLAS 5 equipment. New SLR2000 equipment is being developed by NASA.


MOBLAS 5 equipment
Original Mt Stromlo Facility before fires 2003

At the Moblas 5 site there are also GPS and GLONASS receivers along with a DORIS transmitter and time reference equipment. This image displays a close view of some of the Observatory's equipment.


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For more information contact: geodesy@ga.gov.au
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