Practical Considerations for VLBI Satellite Tracking in View of the GENESIS Mission

Abstract

As a combined product of four space geodetic techniques, the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) heavily relies on the ties between the various techniques. The tie vectors, however, usually determined via classical surveying at co-location sites, differ from space geodesy solutions by up to a few centimeters. Observing satellites with the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) technique is a topic of increasing interest for the establishment of space ties. VLBI observations to the upcoming GENESIS mission dedicated to realize a space tie would directly link the techniques and strengthens the connection in the combination to the ITRF. We present a study of practical considerations for VLBI satellite tracking. With an expected launch date of 2027, we focus our investigations on the efforts needed in the VLBI community to successfully support the GENESIS satellite mission. Current VLBI formats and telescopes are not designed for satellite tracking. Therefore, this work examines the practicality of current VLBI standards for the use of satellite VLBI. We investigate aspects of the process chain from different satellite tracking approaches with the Australian VLBI network to correlation of the signals. Furthermore, we analyze visibilities of the GENESIS satellite mission assuming a realistic VLBI network.