Operations and Performance of the Matera Laser Station and Estimation of the Position of the European Stations

Since September 1983, the Matera laser station started regular tracking activities with the geodetic satellites Lageos and Starlette. The Matera station operates in co-ordination with the international network of geodetic laser stations, and participates to the NASA Crustal Dynamics Project and to the MERIT Campaign promoted by IAU. The first part of this paper reports on the operational activities at the station and on the performance of the instrumentation. The second part describes the models adopted for data processing and presents the results obtained through the analysis of the Lageos observations acquired from September '83 to August '84. The preliminary estimates of the geodetic co-ordinates of five European laser stations and of their baselines are given.