NARIT Tech

Solving the mystery of the movement
of the earth's crust using astronomical technology
VGOS radio telescope (VLBI Global Observing System Radio Telescope)

On March 28th, 2025, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 struck Mandalay, Myanmar. The tremors and their effects were felt in many areas of southern China and Thailand, as far as the capital city of Bangkok, some 1,000 kilometers away. We would like to express our concern and support to all those affected by this incident.

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Today, NARIT Tech would like to introduce the VGOS radio telescope technology, which, in addition to astronomy, can be used to study the movement of the earth's crust for geodesy and geological research, predict the movement of the earth's crust, and understand the cause of earthquakes.

In addition to studying radio astronomy, radio telescopes can also study geodesy or geometry.  The VGOS radio telescope, also known as the Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Global Observing System, measures the position of the earth with high accuracy.  It employs at least two VGOS radio telescopes located at least 1,000 kilometers apart to receive S and X-band signals from celestial objects that emit radio waves in the universe at the same time.  The data is then processed to obtain millimeter-level coordinates for the movement of the earth's crust, which can be used to examine the movement of the earth's crust more precisely than other techniques currently in use.

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NARIT plans to install 3 VGOS radio telescopes with a 13-meter diameter dish in Thailand:

  • The first is located at Thai National Radio Astronomy Observatory (TNRO) in Huai Hong Krai Royal Development Study Center, Doi Saket District, Chiang Mai Province, which is on the Eurasian plate (construction was completed and will be officially opened on May 16th, 2025),
  • The second is located at Walailak University, Tha Sala District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, which is on the Sunda Plate (currently under construction),
  • The third is located at the Songkla Regional Observatory for the Public, Khao Rup Chang Sub-District, Mueang District, Songkhla Province, which is also on the Sunda Plate (currently under construction).

The first and second VGOS radio telescopes are supported by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO), People's Republic of China, for the foundation structure, the 13-meter diameter receiving dish, and the installation of signal receivers in the frequency range of 2-14 GHz, which will enable the connection of the Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) network for geodesy with the highest efficiency and can be used with the VGOS radio telescope network worldwide.  The third VGOS radio telescope was developed entirely by NARIT’s engineering team.  The foundation structure and receiving dish were prototyped from the Yebes Observatory in Spain; moreover, the team also designed and developed the signal receivers in-house.

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When all three VGOS radio telescopes are completed, the movement of the earth’s crust in Thailand will be further investigated to provide essential data for predicting crust movement.  Furthermore, the collected data will be used to process the values of various variables or factors that affect the earth’s positioning, such as the speed of the earth’s rotation, which is critical data used by geologists to assess the likelihood of earthquakes and is extremely useful in the fields of science, engineering, geology, and applied geophysics.