Lunar Orbital VLBI Experiment: Data correlation system
摘要
The Lunar Orbital VLBI Experiment (LOVEX) aims to utilize the 4.2-m diameter antenna on the Queqiao-2 relay satellite of the Chang’E-7 mission, which is equipped with an X-band cryogenic receiver, an H-maser, and a VLBI data acquisition backend, thereby forming a space radio telescope in lunar orbit. The lunar orbital telescope will collaborate with Earth-based telescopes to conduct VLBI observations, thus forming a lunar-Earth space VLBI network. The length of the baseline will extend up to approximately 380000 km, which will be the longest VLBI baseline to date. This paper introduces the LOVEX VLBI data correlation system. The system is capable of generating VLBI delay models for both the lunar orbital and Earth-based telescopes; it also performs the initial clock search within a large clock offset window ranging from −10 ms to +10 ms for the lunar-Earth baseline leveraging both wideband blazar signals and spacecraft (SC) differential one-way ranging (DOR) signals—a distinctive feature of the system. To fulfill the scientific objectives of astrophysics, astrometry, and orbit determination of SC, the data correlation system outputs visibilities in various formats. Additionally, the system can directly output the VLBI residual delay and delay rate of SC after bandwidth synthesis. Anticipating the inclusion of more Earth-based stations in the future, the system is designed with the capability to correlate digital signals observed by 10 stations, with a bandwidth of 512 MHz and dual-polarization, running on an off-the-shelf central processing unit (CPU) + graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster. This system was applied to both the ground verification system and the first LOVEX observation experiment, and successfully detected VLBI fringes for signals from blazars and SC after fringe fitting.