The HALCA (Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy), also known as MUSES-B before launch and Haruka after launch, is an 8 meter diameter radio telescope satellite which was used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry. It is in an orbit with an apogee altitude of 21,400 km and a perigee altitude of 560 km. The elliptical orbit allowed imaging of celestial radio sources by the satellite and ground based telescopes, with good (u,v) plane coverage and high resolution. The orbit has an inclination of 31 degrees, and a period of about 6.3 hours. It was launched in February 1997. After three years of designed life, attitude control failed in 2003, and the operation officially ended in November 2005.
HALCA will be followed by ASTRO-G (VSOP-2) in 2011.
Highlights
Observations of hydroxyl masers and pulsars at 1.6 GHz
Detection of interference fringes for quasarPKS1519-273 between HALCA and terrestrial radio telescopes
Routines imaging of quasars and radio galaxies etc. by means of experimental VLBI observations with HALCA and terrestrial radio telescope networks
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