In article ,
Christoph Bollig wrote:


Satellite laser ranging (SLR) is done routinely since many years.
There is a network of SLR stations around the world. Some satellites
have retro reflectors mounted to them, exactly for this purpose. This
includes some or all (not sure) of the GPS satellites.


I believe that continental drifts can be studied by doing sufficiently
accurate laser ranging on a given satellite from SLR stations located on
two (or more) continents. Do enough averaging over time and you can
figure out both the satellite's orbit and the relative motions of the
stations themselves with the precision that's needed.