Ground-Based Radar Tracking of Near-Earth Objects With VLBI Radio Telescopes: 2024 MK Test Case

Abstract

The Southern Hemisphere Asteroid Research Project is an active and informal entity comprising the University of New South Wales, the University of Tasmania, the University of Western Australia, and the Curtin University, which performs asteroid research in collaboration with federal agencies, including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (JPL). Since 2015, we have used the Australian infrastructure to characterize more than 50 near-Earth asteroids through bistatic radar observations. On 29 June 2024, we used four very long baseline interferometer (VLBI) radio telescopes to follow the close approach of 2024 MK to the Earth. In this paper, we describe the detections and the analysis of VLBI and howthese observations can help to improve the understanding of its composition and orbit characterization.