National Radio Astronomy Observatory
P.O. Box 2, Green Bank, WV 24944
Tel: (304) 456-2011; Fax: (304) 456-2271

View towards the East of the GBES in the summer. View of GBES in the autumn. View of the GBES in the winter. View towards the West of the GBES in the spring.

Tracking Station Mission

The Orbiting VLBI tracking station in Green Bank, West Virginia is one of four NASA tracking stations dedicated to support of Very Long Baseline Interferometry satellites. Current and future satellites extend interferometry baselines beyond the diameter of the earth. The trackings stations transmit a maser referenced timing tone to the orbiting satellites. The satellites sample the astronomical signals and transmit the data on a Ku band downlink back to the stations. The tracking stations record the data on wideband magnetic tape and ship it to correlators for further processing. The Observatory and tracking station are located in a valley at elevation 2750' , and are shielded from radio interference by mountains to the east and west. For additional views of the tracking station, click here, or here.

Space VLBI satellites

VSOP/HALCA

The Japanese Space agency, ISAS , launched VSOP/HALCA on 97 February 12. VSOP/HAL CA has a home page. The VSOP/HALCA mission operations group maintains an interface document page.

RadioAstron

The Russian Space agency is building a Radio telescope, RadioAstron , as a part of the spectrum series. RadioAstron is scheduled to be launched after the gamma ray satellite, Spectrum X-Gamma.

ARISE

Researchers at JPL and their colaborators are planning a next generation space radio telescope, ARISE, Advanced Radio Interferometry between Space and Earth.

No Frames Page

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation
operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

visitors since 19-December-1999. Last modified: 2000 Sept 7