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Can Very Long Baseline Interferometry Be Done Between the Earth and the Moon?

-- Ron | November 26, 2020

Question:

Considering that the future space Gravity Wave telescope is expected to use several satellites while they depend on knowing the length of the pathway VERY ACURATLY we can apparently determine distances between objects in space
VERY ACURATLY. Why can’t we build one or several Radio Astronomy satellites, place them on the Moon and use that ability to have a VERY long baseline telescope?

-- Ron

Answer:

Yes. In fact, just such a project has been proposed to build an autonomous remote-controlled radio observatory on the Moon that would perform coordinated observations with Earth-based radio telescopes conduct very long baseline interferometry measurements on baselines as long as 410 000 km.

-- Jeff Mangum

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