The first VSOP satellite was successfully launched 12 February 1997 on the new ISAS M-V rocket from the Kagoshima Space Center. The satellite, renamed HALCA after its successful launch, sucessfully deployed an 8 meter diameter radio telescope in orbit on 27 & 28 February 1997.

HALCA (Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy), also known for its project name VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Programme), the code name MUSES-B (for the second of the Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft series), or just Haruka ("far away, distant" (はるか)) [2] was a Japanese 8 meter diameter radio telescope satellite which ...

Conduct radio-wave observation in orbit in combination with radio telescopes on the ground (VSOP: VLBI Space Observatory Programme).

Aug 2, 2023 · Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy. Launched on February 12, 1997 HALCA, also called VSOP, Muses-B or Haruka (meaning “far away”), was a very long baseline interferometry mission.

HALCA (MUSES-B), the first astronomical satellite dedicated to Very-Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), was launched on its maiden flight by ISAS's M-V launch vehicle from Kagoshima Space Center on February 12, 1997. HALCA was the main player of the VLBI Space Observation Programme (VSOP).

The radio astronomy satellite HALCA was launched in 1997, marking the first VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) astronomy mission in history. In HALCA, various technological experiments were conduced successfully including the deployment of its large, 10m-across antenna in orbit.

Feb 12, 1997 · MUSES-B was chosen for the VSOP project satellite due to the many technological and engineering challenges faced in placing an antenna in space for VLBI. A line drawing of the satellite shows a number of the components of the satellite.

HALCA is the world's first radio-astronomy satellite equipped with a large deployable antenna, which is 8 metres in diameter. HALCA is the space component of the experimental VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP).

The VSOP-2 becomes a radio astronomical observation project by taking over HALCA’s engineering and astronomical results. The scientific satellite developed for the project is the seventh astronomy satellite (ASTRO), and thus named ASTRO-G.

Plans for a second generation space-VLBI project have been made by a working group over a number of years. This project, VSOP-2, has now been approved by Japan’s space agency, JAXA, as the ASTRO-G project.