NASA (McDonald Observatory)

Located in the Texas Davis Mountains on Mount Locke at 2,100m is the famous McDonald-Observatory.
The University of Texas owns and finances the site.

Due to the current construction of SLR stations at NASA for Space Geodesy Satellite Laser Ranging (SGSLR), a 4.2m high-speed dome from Baader Planetarium was installed here in January 2020. This is the second system of its type after the 4.2m Highspeed-Dome at the Goddard Space Flight Center, which was installed in April 2019.

See below a video of the dome installation:

Further information on this dome installation can also be found on our blogpost 4,2m Highspeed Dome für NASA in Texas, as well as in a blogpost on the official NASA-website: https://space-geodesy.nasa.gov/NSGN/sites/MGO/MGO.html

Further details about the system requirements, design specifications, performance metrics, and the benefits of the SGSLR system for global geodetic infrastructure can be found here.