While great progress has been made in dynamical modeling for near-Earth SLR satellites, this area of study is by no means exhausted. If sub-centimeter-level accuracies are ever to be achieved, advances in modeling must be forthcoming, and current assumptions built into numerous models and modeling approaches must be reviewed.
SLR data continues to be an important source of information about satellite dynamics, particularly for the compact geodetic satellites such as Lageos and Starlette. The long lifetimes of these satellites, and the long history of observations provide unique probes of the Earth's gravity field and its evolution. Monitoring the subtle temporal changes in the Earth's geopotential over decadal time scales provides global constraints on geophysical processes such as global sea level rise, ice sheet mass balance, and post-glacial rebound. SLR data makes an unique contribution to NASA's Global Change Program in this regard.