High-accuracy same-beam VLBI observations using Shanghai and Urumqi telescopes

The same-beam VLBI observations of Rstar and Vstar, which were two small satellites of Japanese lunar mission, SELENE, were successfully performed by using Shanghai and Urumqi 25-m telescopes. When the separation angle between Rstar and Vstar was less than 0.1 deg, the differential phase delay of the X-band signals between Rstar and Vstar on Shanghai-Urumqi baseline was obtained with a very small error of 0.15 mm rms, which was reduced by 1-2 order compared with the former VLBI results. When the separation angle was less than 0.56 deg, the differential phase delay of the S-band signals was also obtained with a very small error of several mm rms. The orbit determination for Rstar and Vstar was performed, and the accuracy was improved to a level of several meters by using VLBI and Doppler data. The high-accuracy same-beam differential VLBI technique is very useful in orbit determination for a spacecraft, and will be used in orbit determination for Mars missions of China Yinghuo-1 and Russia Phobos-grunt.