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Space VLBI

Space VLBI

The RadioAstron project was started a decade ago in the Soviet Union, and was joined by Canada in 1989. The RadioAstron project takes a fundamental leap forward in VLBI research by proposing to launch a radio telescope antennae into Earth-orbit where it can be used in conjunction with antennas on the ground to observe astronomical objects with unprecedented detail.

Canada's contribution, funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is to provide RadioAstron with VLBI recorder/playback machines (being developed by the Institute of Space and Terrestrial Science at York University), a correlator system with which to process the data (being developed at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory), and support for observers in the form of computer aids and tools needed to actually make sensible scientific use of the system. This support is being developed by Russ Taylor (russ@ras.ucalgary.ca) and Glen Young (young@ras.ucalgary.ca) of the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the University of Calgary. The support is in the form of software which analyzes the spacecraft and ground constraints for a particular observation as well as the development of a (post-correlation) processing/calibration system for space VLBI.

Other countries involved in the RadioAstron project include the Netherlands, Australia, Finland, India, the United Staes, and several former Soviet Union countries led by Russia.

Other Space VLBI Sites: RADIOASTRON

RadioAstron is a project led by the Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow, Russia, that will put a 10-meter radio telescope into a high elliptical orbit in order to make VLBI observations in conjunction with radio telescopes on the ground. It is part of the Spectrum series of spacecraft, also including Spectrum X-Gamma and Spectrum-UV; the spacecraft bus is being developed by the Lavochkin Association. Launch is scheduled for late 1997 or 1998.

  • NRAO Green Bank OVLBI Station
  • University of Calgary
  • Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
  • Satellite Geodetic Observatory, Penc, Hungary

    Other Space VLBI Sites: VSOP

    The VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) is a project of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, located in Sagamihara, Japan. An 8-meter radio telescope will be launched into an elliptical, high-Earth orbit in September 1996 to make VLBI observations in conjunction with a number of ground radio telescopes located around the world.

  • Ground Radio Observatories

    Glen Young

    E-mail:young@bear.ras.ucalgary.ca

    Brad Wallace: brad@ras.ucalgary.ca
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