The Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX) Radio Telescope and Position Tracking System
Abstract
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a technique in radio astronomy that vastly increases the diffraction limited angular resolution of radio observations by correlating simultaneous observations of radio telescopes separated by thousands of kilometers. Ground-based high-frequency VLBI is limited in baseline length by the diameter of the Earth and in sensitivity by molecular absorption of the Earth's atmosphere. One of the ways to improve VLBI is with balloon telescopes, which are much cheaper than space VLBI telescopes. In addition balloon-VLBI stations could also improve image quality due to increased uv-coverage. As a first step to achieving VLBI from a balloon-borne platform we present the Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX). This is a novel, first-generation balloon-borne VLBI station observing at K-band (22 GHz) which launched as part of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) STRATOS campaign from Timmins, Ontario, Canada in August 2025, with the aim to demonstrate VLBI from a balloon-borne platform by correlating with a large ground based telescope. We discuss the design of the 36 inch (91 cm) radio telescope and receiver with a 2 GHz bandwidth built from commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components as well as the telescope pointing system capable of interfacing with the CSA's CARMENCITA gondola. We also present a novel high precision position tracking system built from COTS components giving <1 mm precision on 1 s time scales which is required for achieving phase tracking at 22 GHz. We further show on-the-ground testing results from the 2025 Timmins campaign. The 2025 flight from Timmins was not successful due to a leak in the balloon preventing the payload from reaching its target altitude where accurate gondola pointing is possible. We therefore wrap up by presenting plans to upgrade the telescope for a potential next flight opportunity from Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil in 2027.
Versions
Related
- An RFSoC-based Backend and Timing System for the Balloon-borne Very Long Baseline Interferometry Experiment
- Prospects for submillimeter VLBI of black hole photon rings with a stratospheric balloon-borne telescope
- Multi-sensor fusion for fine-guidance and milliarcsecond-level attitude estimation of balloon-borne telescope
- First overnight balloon flight of the GRAINE 2023 emulsion gamma-ray telescope enabled by a large-scale pressure-vessel gondola
- The GOTO Telescope Control System
BibTeX
@misc{thiel2026balloonborne,
title = {{The Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX) Radio Telescope and Position Tracking System}},
author = {Felix M. Thiel and Mayukh Bagchi and Laura M. Fissel and Aarchi Shah and Lindy Blackburn and Emily Butler and Rafael Costa and Thomas Emo and Vincent L. Fish and Daryl Haggard and Michael D. Johnson and Jessica Lo and Maggie Oxford and Dominic W. Pesce and Ganesh Rajagopalan and Javier L. Romualdez and Adrian K. Sinclair and Bonnie Slocombe and Stephanie St-Jean and Terry Yang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11676},
eprint = {2609.11676},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11676},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX) Radio Telescope and Position Tracking System
AU - Felix M. Thiel
AU - Mayukh Bagchi
AU - Laura M. Fissel
AU - Aarchi Shah
AU - Lindy Blackburn
AU - Emily Butler
AU - Rafael Costa
AU - Thomas Emo
AU - Vincent L. Fish
AU - Daryl Haggard
AU - Michael D. Johnson
AU - Jessica Lo
AU - Maggie Oxford
AU - Dominic W. Pesce
AU - Ganesh Rajagopalan
AU - Javier L. Romualdez
AU - Adrian K. Sinclair
AU - Bonnie Slocombe
AU - Stephanie St-Jean
AU - Terry Yang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11676
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11676
AB - Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a technique in radio astronomy that vastly increases the diffraction limited angular resolution of radio observations by correlating simultaneous observations of radio telescopes separated by thousands of kilometers. Ground-based high-frequency VLBI is limited in baseline length by the diameter of the Earth and in sensitivity by molecular absorption of the Earth's atmosphere. One of the ways to improve VLBI is with balloon telescopes, which are much cheaper than space VLBI telescopes. In addition balloon-VLBI stations could also improve image quality due to increased uv-coverage. As a first step to achieving VLBI from a balloon-borne platform we present the Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX). This is a novel, first-generation balloon-borne VLBI station observing at K-band (22 GHz) which launched as part of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) STRATOS campaign from Timmins, Ontario, Canada in August 2025, with the aim to demonstrate VLBI from a balloon-borne platform by correlating with a large ground based telescope. We discuss the design of the 36 inch (91 cm) radio telescope and receiver with a 2 GHz bandwidth built from commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components as well as the telescope pointing system capable of interfacing with the CSA's CARMENCITA gondola. We also present a novel high precision position tracking system built from COTS components giving <1 mm precision on 1 s time scales which is required for achieving phase tracking at 22 GHz. We further show on-the-ground testing results from the 2025 Timmins campaign. The 2025 flight from Timmins was not successful due to a leak in the balloon preventing the payload from reaching its target altitude where accurate gondola pointing is possible. We therefore wrap up by presenting plans to upgrade the telescope for a potential next flight opportunity from Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil in 2027.
ER -