В статье кратко приведены: история создания наземно-космического радиоинтерферомера «Радиоастрон» и его состав; изучаемые явления и процессы, происходящие в различных астрофизических объектах; различия между наземными радиоинтерферометрами и наземно-космическим радиоинтерферомером «Радиоастрон», преимущества последнего; состав и основные характеристики бортового и наземного научных комплексов и их функции в решении научных задач; участие зарубежных наземных обсерваторий в наблюдениях различных астрофизических объектов с безусловным приоритетом российских учёных в доступе к научным данным и результатам их обработки; основные требования к прецизионной складной твердотельной параболической антенне космического радиотелескопа и особенности её конструкции; технические и технологические особенности изготовления, регулировок и настройки антенны в обеспечение её размерной стабильности и точности отражающей поверхности рефлектора; роль центра управления полётом в части подготовки программ сеансов и в части выхода из случавшихся нештатных ситуаций. The article overviews the following: story behind the design of Radioastron ground-space radio interferometer and its composition; phenomena and processes under study occurring in various astrophysical objects; differences between ground radio interferometers and Radioastron ground-space radio interferometer, advantages of the latter; composition and main properties of on-board and ground space complexes and their functions for solution of the scientific tasks; participation of foreign ground observatories in observations of various astrophysical objects with absolute priority of Russian scientists for access to the scientific data and their processing results; main requirements for precision stowable solid parabolic antenna of space radio telescope and its structure special features; antenna production technical and technological characteristics, antenna adjustments and tuning to ensure its dimensional stability and accuracy of reflector reflecting surface; role of mission control in terms of preparation of communication sessions and recovery upon occurred contingency situations.

The Russian Academy of Sciences and Federal Space Agency, together with the participation of many international organizations, worked toward the launch of the RadioAstron orbiting space observatory with its onboard 10-m reflector radio telescope from the Baikonur cosmodrome on July 18, 2011. Together with some of the largest ground-based radio telescopes and a set of stations for tracking, collecting, and reducing the data obtained, this space radio telescope forms a multi-antenna ground-space radio interferometer with extremely long baselines, making it possible for the first time to study various objects in the Universe with angular resolutions a million times better than is possible with the human eye. The project is targeted at systematic studies of compact radio-emitting sources and their dynamics. Objects to be studied include supermassive black holes, accretion disks, and relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei, stellar-mass black holes, neutron stars and hypothetical quark stars, regions of formation of stars and planetary systems in our and other galaxies, interplanetary and interstellar plasma, and the gravitational field of the Earth. The results of ground-based and inflight tests of the space radio telescope carried out in both autonomous and ground-space interferometric regimes are reported. The derived characteristics are in agreement with the main requirements of the project. The astrophysical science program has begun.

The space interferometer Radioastron is working jointly with the largest radio telescopes of the world. Ground tracking stations provide for retrieving the information and determining the orbital parameters for data processing centers. The project is aimed at systematic studies of images of radio emitting regions, their coordinates, and time-dependent variations near super-massive black holes in galactic nuclei, stellarmass black holes, neutron and quark stars, regions of star and planet formation in our and other galaxies, the structure of interplanetary and interstellar plasma, and the Earth’s gravitational field.

The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Federal Space Agency are planning to launch Radioastron in 2011, which is a unique space observatory with a 10-meter reflector antenna. In conjunction with the largest ground-based radio telescopes and tracking stations, it forms the first system that will be able to carry out studies with a resolution millions of times greater than that of eyesight.

Millimetron is a Russian-led 12 m diameter submillimeter and far-infrared space observatory which is included in the Space Plan of the Russian Federation for launch around 2017. With its large collecting area and state-of-the-art receivers, it will enable unique science and allow at least one order of magnitude improvement with respect to the Herschel Space Observatory. Millimetron will be operated in two basic observing modes: as a single-dish observatory, and as an element of a ground-space very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) system. As single-dish, angular resolutions on the order of 3 to 12 arc sec will be achieved and spectral resolutions of up to a million employing heterodyne techniques. As VLBI antenna, the chosen elliptical orbit will provide extremely large VLBI baselines (beyond 300,000 km) resulting in micro-arc second angular resolution.