In the early 1970s, CAS Member YE Shuhua proposed the construction of Chinese Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network (CVN). In the 80s and 90s of the 20th century, the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) completed construction of the Seshan 25 meter Radio Telescope in Shanghai and the Urumqi Nanshan 25 meter Radio Telescope in Xinjiang.

In 2004, China’s Lunar Exploration mission was officially approved, and SHAO took the initiative to apply VLBI technology in radio astronomy to the high-precision VLBI orbit measurement and determination of the Lunar Exploration Mission.

Since then, Chinese VLBI network led by SHAO has successfully applied real-time VLBI technology to the orbit determination and positioning of lunar probes, constituting a high-precision orbit determination system for deep space exploration of “ranging and velocity + VLBI”, which can quickly and accurately determine the position and speed of spacecraft. This capability can effectively support Chin’s lunar exploration and deep space exploration missions.

In order to meet the demand of multi-mission and multi-target real-time orbit determination for the follow-up lunar and planetary exploration, SHAO is now building two 40-meter radio telescopes in Xigaze, Xizang, and Changbai Mountain, Jilin.

It is estimated that in 2025, it will form a new twin network of six stations and one center with Shanghai Tianma 65-meter, Shanghai Seshan 25-meter, Xinjiang Nanshan 26-meter, Yunnan Kunming 40-meter radio telescopes and Shanghai VLBI center, which will have the ability to complete the orbit determination of the Lunar and deep space exploration in two different sky regions at the same time, and make greater contributions to the follow-up including lunar and planetary exploration and manned lunar landing.

In order to further improve its spatial resolution, CVN is actively developing space VLBI technology and trying to move from the earth to space. At present, the first international VLBI experiment in Earth-Moon orbit is being carried out using the Queqiao-2 satellite, and the baseline length has been expanded from the current 3,200 km to 400,000 km.

In the future, CVN will focus on domestic telescopes, form an air-ground integration, carry out extensive international cooperation, optimize the network configuration, carry out cutting-edge scientific research in astrophysics, astrometry and deep space exploration.