Earth-Moon VLBI project. Modeling of scientific outcome (1903.04215v2)

Abstract: Modern radio astrometry has reached the limit of the resolution that is determined by the size of the Earth. The only way to overcome that limit is to create the radio telescopes outside our planet. It is proposed to build an autonomous remote-controlled radio observatory on the Moon. Working together with the existing radio telescopes on Earth in the VLBI mode, the new observatory will form an interferometer baseline up to 410000 km, enhancing the present astrometric and geodetic capabilities of VLBI. We perform numerical simulations of Earth-Moon VLBI observations operating simultaneously with the international VLBI network. It is shown that these observations will significantly improve the precision of determination of Moon's orbital motion, libration angles, ICRF, and relativistic parameters.