China-South Africa Bilateral Workshop on Radio Astronomy, Geodesy and Space Science, hosted by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, will be held in Pingtang, Guizhou province, China, June 2-5, 2017.
VLBI in China has a history more than 30 years. The Chinese VLBI Network (CVN) includes the Shanghai Tianma 65 m, the Shanghai Sheshan 25 m, the Urumqi 25 m, the Kunming 40 m and the Miyun 50 m radio telescopes. FAST will join this network in the near future. In South Africa, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) has a 26 m and 15 m XDM antennas for radio astronomy, and a to-be-installed 13 m dish for geodetic VLBI. Because of its unique location HartRAO has been a key station in global VLBI experiments, and now plays a leading role in the development of the African VLBI Network (AVN). Both HartRAO and three telescopes in Shanghai and Urumqi are formal members of international VLBI networks such as European VLBI Network (EVN) and the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS).
The purpose of the workshop is to build and strengthen collaborations in radio astronomy and space geodesy as well as related technology between the South African and Chinese astronomy communities. All institutes and individuals from our two countries who have interests in the bilateral collaboration in the field of radio astronomy, geodesy and space science are invited to attend the meeting.