The AuScope Geodetic VLBI Array

TL;DR

The AuScope VLBI array in Australia, comprising three new 12m telescopes and a correlation facility, aims to enhance the celestial and terrestrial reference frames and improve geodetic measurements in the Southern Hemisphere.

Contribution

This paper introduces the new AuScope geodetic VLBI array, detailing its infrastructure, initial performance, and potential for advancing geodetic and astrometric accuracy.

Findings

Achieved centimetre-level precision over long baselines.

Array performance meets initial expectations for geodetic measurements.

Systematic effects need further reduction for VLBI2010 goals.

Abstract

The AuScope geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry array consists of three new 12 m radio telescopes and a correlation facility in Australia. The telescopes at Hobart (Tasmania), Katherine (Northern Territory) and Yarragadee (Western Australia) are co-located with other space geodetic techniques including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and gravity infrastructure, and in the case of Yarragadee, Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) facilities. The correlation facility is based in Perth (Western Australia). This new facility will make significant contributions to improving the densification of the International Celestial Reference Frame in the Southern Hemisphere, and subsequently enhance the International Terrestrial Reference Frame through the ability to detect and mitigate systematic error. This, combined with the simultaneous densification of the GNSS network across Australia will enable the improved measurement of intraplate deformation across the Australian tectonic plate. In this paper we present a description of this new infrastructure and present some initial results, including telescope performance measurements and positions of the telescopes in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame. We show that this array is already capable of achieving centimetre precision over typical long-baselines and that network and reference source systematic effects must be further improved to reach the ambitious goals of VLBI2010.