HartRAO Space Geodesy Home Page

The HartRAO Space Geodesy Programme

This topo map is adapted from NASA GSFC. The map depicts the regional GPS network which is processed by HartRAO for crustal dynamics studies. The GPS satellite (Block IIF) image is borrowed from the USAF and the laser system image is from SGAPO (Space Geodesy and Altimetry Projects Office). The HartRAO 26 m antenna is shown illuminated by floodlights.

Welcome to the home page for the Space Geodesy Programme of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) located North of Johannesburg in South Africa. The Space Geodesy Programme participates in global networks which uses applications of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) to do research in geodesy. HartRAO is an IGS Regional Data Center, (GPS Data Sets, Products & IGS log files) can be downloaded from here.

HartRAO has installed 2 International GPS Service (IGS) GPS stations. SUTH is located at the site of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) which is about 20 km from Sutherland, a small town in a semi-desert region called the Karoo. HRAO has been installed at HartRAO. Both stations are proper geodetic installations and meet the requirements of the IGS. The data from these stations are available on the internet or can be accessed from this site from a local workstation. The equipment is owned by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). A third station (NAMI) was installed in Windhoek, Namibia during November 1998 and will become an IGS station later in 1999.

The Space Geodesy Programme currently participates in the following projects:

IRIS
Core-A (Earth Orientation Parameters)
SYOWA
CRF
CORE-OHIG
RDV/VLBA

The programme is also engaged in the following geodetic research, utilising GPS:

Footprint, to determine local crustal and monument stability
Collocation of different reference points and geodetic techniques
Precise timing using GPS and a Hydrogen MASER
Studying and eliminating short term site specific errors for GPS installations
The measurement of short-term (~2 hours) small (mm/hr) motions
GPS antenna characteristics modelling
Crustal deformation in southern Africa, using an 11 station network (see regional network map, adapted from the IGS Central Bureau world map), processed using GAMIT.

Geodesy
Index

GPS Data Sets, Products & IGS log files

ITRF96 Coordinates (GPS)

GPS

View recent publications