Scientists want a radio telescope on the far side of the moon
Shane McGlaun - May 8, 2021, 12:16pm CDT
A group of scientists has a plan to help radio astronomers see further into the universe’s past. The plan involves placing a radio telescope on the moon’s far side to help them learn more about the beginnings of the universe. The concept is known as the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT). The program has raised $500,000 and has entered the second phase of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program.
The LCRT sounds very complicated and would involve robots that hang the wire mesh within a crater on the far side of the moon to create the radio telescope. The telescope would measure radio waves created a few hundred million years ago, right after the Big Bang before the first stars appeared.
NASA Eyeing Construction of First-Ever Telescope on Moon s Dark Side
Alfred Worden/Christie s
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Sputnik International
https://sputniknews.com/science/202104171082655983-nasa-eyeing-construction-of-first-ever-telescope-on-moons-dark-side/
Researchers are pinning their hopes on the telescope’s super-advanced lenses to study the very onset of the universe, without the process being disturbed by radio interference from Earth.
NASA has announced a string of scholarships to support and encourage researchers to develop an array of projects. Among these is one to design the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope, to be planted on the moon s far side, that would be tasked with analysing radio waves originating from space.
The super-long wavelength radio telescope would collect and further amplify them to facilitate follow-up research.