Santa Maria RAEGE Station Overview and Developments

The Atlantic Network of Geodynamic and Space Stations (RAEGE) is a collaborative Spanish-Portuguese initiative aimed at constructing, installing, and operating four fundamental geodetic stations: two in Spain (Yebes and Gran Canaria) and two in the Azores (Santa Maria and Flores). These facilities contribute to the advancement ofgeodetic research and the enhancement of geophysical and astronomical observation networks. The Santa Maria RAEGE station on Santa Maria Island in the Azores plays a pivotal role in this network. Fully integrated into the VGOS network since October 2023, the station routinely participates in VGOS observing sessions. Operational since May 2021, the station has a 13.2m VGOS radio telescope, “Colombo”, equipped with a broadband receiver developed at Yebes laboratories. In addition, the station hosts two permanent GNSS receivers and a gravimetry room housing an iGRAV-051 superconductive gravimeter, a seismograph (Centaur- 3/Trillium 120PA), and a SILEX accelerometer. Local ties for geodetic calibration were built in November 2024. The RAEGE project also aims to emphasize capacity building and data analysis, fostering collaboration between IGN, the Yebes and Santa Maria observatories, and the University of Alicante. A dedicated data analysis group was established in 2021 to enhance the quality and utility of geodetic products derived from the network’s observations. In addition to supporting geodetic and geophysical research, the Santa Maria station actively contributes to academic initiatives. Current projects include a master’s thesis focused on designing a tunable downconverter and a doctoral thesis exploring advanced radio astronomy techniques. The focus of the master student is to designa tunable downconverter capable of observing any frequency between 4 and 14 GHz with several bandwidths, while performing the necessary adjustments via software, thus enhancing the hardware setup for radio astronomy observations. The doctoral research investigates in detail the capabilities of the radio telescope of the RAEGESanta Maria station, with the goal of implementing a monitoring campaign of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN). This presentation will provide an updated overview of the Santa Maria RAEGE station, highlighting its infrastructure, technical upgrades, operational activities, scientific contributions