Specifically, the two hope to find evidence for material flow in the disk of matter surrounding the black hole that is believed to exist in quasars. Scientists at Haystack also use VLBI to verify and track continental drift. They do so by using the technique to measure the distance between telescopes in the VLBI network. He notes that these changes were measured for the first time in the late 1980s. The technique can currently measure the distance between any two telescopes in the network with an accuracy of about one centimeter.
Scientists hope to get that accuracy down to one millimeter.
The observatory receives its primary financial support from the NSF, NASA, and the Department of the Air Force, as well as other federal agencies and national programs.