ETH Zürich's role within the International VLBI Center for Geodesy and Astronomy
The Space Geodesy group at ETH Zürich stands at the forefront of cutting-edge research and innovation within the International VLBI Center for Geodesy and Astronomy (IVS). In the IVS biennial report covering the years 2021-2022, ETH Zürich showcased its significant contributions through two key centers.
The two centers are:
- external page Operations Center: Together with partners in Germany and Austria, ETH Zürich runs the Operations Center "DACH", focusing on precise geodetic measurements and fostering advancements in observational techniques. This center actively monitored and facilitated operational aspects, ensuring the seamless functioning of critical systems within the IVS network. The image highlights the difference in sky-coverage at station ONSA13SW between a classical VGOS-VO session and the new VGOS-R&D session scheduled at DACH.
- external page Analysis Center: Complementing the operational efforts, ETH Zürich established a new Analysis Center. Based on ETH Zürich's expertise in data analysis and the development of advanced software it is planned to work on astrogeodetic data analysis over the next years. So far, we have contributed via numerous simulation studies validating new scheduling approaches or network geometries.
These contributions underscore ETH Zürich's commitment to pushing the boundaries of space geodesy, playing a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of Earth's complex dynamics and its relation to the wider cosmos.
Difference in sky-coverage at station ONSA13SW between a classical VGOS-VO session (left) and the new VGOS-R&D session (right) scheduled at DACH.