  We launched the VLBI Ecliptic Plane Survey program in 2015. The goal of this
program is to find all compact sources within 7.5 degrees of the ecliptic plane
which are suitable as phase calibrators for anticipated phase referencing
observations of spacecrafts. We planned to observe a complete sample of the
sources brighter than 50 mJy at 5 GHz listed in the PMN and GB6 catalogues that
have not yet been observed with VLBI. By April 2016, eight 24-hour sessions
have been performed and processed. Among 2227 observed sources, 435 sources
were detected in three or more observations. We have also run three 8-hour
segments with VLBA for improving positions of 71 ecliptic sources.
