RAEGE: the Spanish-Portuguese contribution to GGOS

Jesus Gomez-Gonzalez, National Geographic Institute (IGN), Spain. Marlene C.S. Assis, DSCIG, Portugal.

RAEGE (acronym for Atlantic Network of Geodynamical and Space Stations) is the Spanish-Portuguese project to install and operate 4 geodetic VLBI stations to be placed in Yebes and Canary Islands (Spain) and in the Azores Islands (Portugal). Each of these stations will be provided with a 13.2m dish radiotelescope of the VLBI2010 type, a GNSS station, and other geodetic and geophysical instruments. The starting of the RAEGE operations (that of the first radiotelescope in Yebes foreseen in 2013) will play an important role in the launching of the Next Generation IVS Network, and it will also represent an important contribution to the GGOS initiative. In this presentation we highlight the technical, scientific and political reasons which move the National Geographic Institute of Spain (IGN) and the Regional Government of Azores (GRA) to support the RAEGE project.