Abstract

The use of independent radio telscopes, synchronized by accurate frequency standards, allows the construction of Michelson. Interferometers of arbitrarily large size, in the technique known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry. Until now, the size of the earth has been a fundamental limitation but it is now established that the method can be extended to the use of orbiting radio telescopes. Near-earth orbiting systems have the attractive property of mapping complex radio source distributions with large dynamic range, and could easily be deployed from the space shuttle. Future systems could be developed that would give angular resolution of one micro arc-second.

© 1982 AIAA