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Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Simulating Imaging of Large Scale Radio Arrays on the Lunar Surface
Published on: July 30, 2020
Promoting Earth-Based Radar Astronomical Observations of the Moon
Jing Sun1, Jinsong Ping1, Yuri Bondarenko2
1National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Abstract:
Earth-based radar astronomical observations provide information on surface characteristics, orbits, and rotations for a wide variety of solar system objects. Based on compound radio telescopes, both the Chinese VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) network (CVN) and the Russian VLBI network (Quasar), in cooperation with the Chinese radar transmitters, we present the current ground radar astronomical observations of the moon. The spectrum of the reflected radio signals was obtained and the Doppler frequency shift in bi-static radar mode was measured. Radar albedo of the observed region and power ratios of the reflected signals with left- and right-hand circular polarizations were determined, allowing us to study the radar reflectivity and near-surface wavelength-scale roughness of the moon. Future developments on radar astronomy are also discussed in the paper.
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