The SHARPEx space-to-space VLBI experiment
Abstract
Space is the next frontier for ultra-high resolution imaging of astrophysical sources with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). The limited size of the Earth and atmospheric absorption and turbulence at high frequencies prevent order-of-magnitude resolution improvements from current black hole imaging with the ground-based Event Horizon Telescope. A two or three-element submm space-based array like SHARP would image the thin black hole photon ring and measure the black hole spin and spacetime. Here, we present the SHARP Experiment (SHARPEx) mission concept. SHARPEx will demonstrate key enabling technologies for space-to-space VLBI, including clock syntonization between two satellites, on-board correlation, and sub-wavelength relative orbit determination. SHARPEx will consist of two CubeSat or SmallSat platforms carrying small (~1 m diameter) antennas, observing at cm wavelengths. While SHARPEx will be a technical demonstrator, a SHARPEx-type follow-up mission with enhanced intersatellite link properties (range and bandwidth) may produce images of bright AGN with unprecedented resolution and fidelity.
Versions
Related
- The Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX) Radio Telescope and Position Tracking System
- Development of a Photonically Generated Frequency Reference for Space VLBI
- RadioAstron space-VLBI imaging of the jet in M87: II. The parsec-scale structure at 4.8 GHz
- Flow-based neural networks for scalable high resolution imaging of VLBI observations
- Flow-based neural networks for scalable high resolution imaging of VLBI observations
BibTeX
@misc{roelofs2026sharpex,
title = {{The SHARPEx space-to-space VLBI experiment}},
author = {Freek Roelofs and Christiaan Brinkerink and Albert Catalan Artigas and Heino Falcke and Jaime Fernández and Christian M. Fromm and Felix Glaser and Marc Klein Wolt and Yuri Kovalev and Volodymyr Kudriashov and María Manzano and Rasmus Maråk and Manuel Martin-Neira and Jacobo Pastor Fernández-Posse López and Montserrat Puertolas Turell and Alberto Rodríguez Pérez-Silva and René Rüddenklau and Efthalia Traianou and Roger Vilaseca Miro},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.20102},
eprint = {2609.20102},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.20102},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The SHARPEx space-to-space VLBI experiment
AU - Freek Roelofs
AU - Christiaan Brinkerink
AU - Albert Catalan Artigas
AU - Heino Falcke
AU - Jaime Fernández
AU - Christian M. Fromm
AU - Felix Glaser
AU - Marc Klein Wolt
AU - Yuri Kovalev
AU - Volodymyr Kudriashov
AU - María Manzano
AU - Rasmus Maråk
AU - Manuel Martin-Neira
AU - Jacobo Pastor Fernández-Posse López
AU - Montserrat Puertolas Turell
AU - Alberto Rodríguez Pérez-Silva
AU - René Rüddenklau
AU - Efthalia Traianou
AU - Roger Vilaseca Miro
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.20102
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.20102
AB - Space is the next frontier for ultra-high resolution imaging of astrophysical sources with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). The limited size of the Earth and atmospheric absorption and turbulence at high frequencies prevent order-of-magnitude resolution improvements from current black hole imaging with the ground-based Event Horizon Telescope. A two or three-element submm space-based array like SHARP would image the thin black hole photon ring and measure the black hole spin and spacetime. Here, we present the SHARP Experiment (SHARPEx) mission concept. SHARPEx will demonstrate key enabling technologies for space-to-space VLBI, including clock syntonization between two satellites, on-board correlation, and sub-wavelength relative orbit determination. SHARPEx will consist of two CubeSat or SmallSat platforms carrying small (~1 m diameter) antennas, observing at cm wavelengths. While SHARPEx will be a technical demonstrator, a SHARPEx-type follow-up mission with enhanced intersatellite link properties (range and bandwidth) may produce images of bright AGN with unprecedented resolution and fidelity.
ER -