Lunar Farside

Far Side The Moon’s Use as a New Astronomical Site

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 22:26:51 +0000

Far Side The Moon’s Use as a New Astronomical Site Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/12/2022 - 16:26

Leonard David

From Space News Show Daily: Far Side The Moon’s Use as a New Astronomical Site

Read page 1 and page 2 of this special digital edition.

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Moon group pushes for protection of ultraquiet lunar far side

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 19:55:05 +0000

Moon group pushes for protection of ultraquiet lunar far side Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/14/2022 - 12:55

Leonard David

From Space.com: The international scientific community has long been discussing the need to keep the far side of the moon free from human-made radio frequency intrusion.

Doing so can make possible observations of the unexplored early epochs of the universe known as the dark ages and cosmic dawn, scientists say.

The moon's far side always faces away from Earth. Consequently it is "radio-quiet," shielded by the moon itself from radio-frequency interference (RFI) that's pumped out by powerful Earth-based transmitters.

Moreover, the moon also lacks a substantial ionosphere, whereas Earth's ionosphere absorbs and refracts cosmic radio sources. Also, the lunar environment is dry and stable, leading to steadier and ultra-sensitive radio observations — like cupping an ear to listen for chatter from alien civilizations.

A newly established group called the Moon Farside Protection Permanent Committee, which is part of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), has begun to frame issues and solutions to guard against RFI corruption of the moon's far side. Read more...

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NASA eyes moon's dark side for astronomy, new telescopes

Anonymous — Wed, 19 May 2021 21:40:24 +0000

NASA eyes moon's dark side for astronomy, new telescopes Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/19/2021 - 15:40

Paul Brinkmann

From UPI: NASA scientists, as well as astronomers around the world, plan to install lunar observatories in the next few years to peer into the universe's ancient past -- just after the Big Bang.

Science equipment headed to the moon already includes a spectrometer built for launch in early 2022, known as ROLSES, which will study how sunlight charges the slight lunar atmosphere.

The acronym includes the word "sheath," which refers to a field of energy created by sunlight reflecting from the bright lunar surface. And NASA scientists are formulating plans for observatories on the far side of the moon, where darkness and clear sightlines could yield new discoveries about the universe before stars existed.

One bold plan to build a telescope in a lunar crater, the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope, has received $500,000 for further study. Read more…

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Exploring the far side of the Moon and beyond with NESS

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 23:34:43 +0000

Exploring the far side of the Moon and beyond with NESS Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/23/2021 - 17:34

Clifford Holt

From Innovation News Network: NASA has created the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), bringing together teams of researchers who are interested in the Moon, asteroids, and the moons of Mars, airless bodies in Earth’s neighbourhood. Most of the teams involved in SSERVI are therefore interested in areas such as lunar geology, resource extraction, and so on. However, the Network for Exploration and Space Science (NESS), which is headed up by Dr Jack Burns at the ��񱦵�, proposed to do astrophysics and cosmology from the Moon, as the far side of the Moon, in particular, is the only truly radio quiet location in the inner Solar System. As such, the far side of the moon is the perfect place to locate radio telescopes that can be used to explore aspects of the Universe that cannot be addressed in any other way. These include, Burns told The Innovation Platform, the so-called ‘dark ages’ of the Universe, the cosmic dawn, and, indeed, exoplanets. “We can also use these telescopes on the far side of the moon to look at the Sun,” he said.

Led by the University of Colorado, NESS has developed into a team of ten universities and NASA centres which have been working together for almost four years. The network is actively involved in addressing some of the broad design questions for missions to the Moon. Burns explained: “We look at the science drivers, undertake theoretical modelling, conduct equipment and instrument design, and plan missions. We have been successful in doing that, and there are a couple of exciting missions coming up in the next few years, and then we will propose more for the longer term.” Read more…

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The Lunar FARSIDE Telescope

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 22:16:50 +0000

The Lunar FARSIDE Telescope Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/16/2021 - 16:16

From Universe Today: Fraser Cain spoke with Dr. Jack Burns, the Principle Investigator for the Lunar FARSIDE telescope about installing a radio telescope on the farside of the Moon that would be capable of observing the first stars and black holes during the Dark Ages and Epoch of Reionization. Watch the video.

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The history and future of telescopes on the Moon

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 18:25:24 +0000

The history and future of telescopes on the Moon Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/03/2020 - 12:25

Eric Betz

From Astronomy.com: For radio astronomers, Earth is a noisy place. Many modern electronics leak radio signals, which interfere with the long, faint wavelengths of light studied by radio observatories. And for decades, this invisible light pollution has pushed radio observatories deeper into so-called “radio quiet zones.” This forces radio astronomers far from other people, out to places like the barren Atacama Desert in Chile.

But it’s not just human-made devices that obstruct faint radio signals. Natural phenomena from Earth and the Sun can interfere, too. Adding insult to injury, Earth’s ionosphere — where solar radiation ionizes molecules in our upper atmosphere — blocks the longest radio wavelengths from reaching our planet’s surface at all.

Scientists have long eyed a solution: the farside of the Moon. Because it always faces away from Earth, a radio telescope placed on the lunar farside would be almost completely sheltered from Earth-generated radio noise. There, astronomers would study a range of phenomena that can’t be seen from our planet, or even by Earth-orbiting space telescopes. A telescope on the Moon could show us what happened before the universe formed its first stars and galaxies, or let us see electromagnetic fields around distant exoplanets, revealing extremely subtle yet fundamental properties related to a world’s true potential for hosting life. Read more...

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The Far Side Of The Moon Is The Perfect Place For a Radio Telescope

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 17:22:21 +0000

The Far Side Of The Moon Is The Perfect Place For a Radio Telescope Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/21/2020 - 10:22

We’ve now passed the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, and all eyes are back on the Moon. NASA is planning to return to the Moon by 2024 with its Artemis mission, the Chinese have put the Moon firmly in their plans for space exploration, and even SpaceX thinks the Moon is the perfect destination to test out the capabilities of its Starship.

But what can you do with the Moon? Refuel spacecraft with resources drawn from the lunar regolith? Mine its helium 3 for your fusion reactors? Build a lunar amusement park?

In fact, the far side of the Moon might make one of the best platforms we have for radio telescopes. One side of the Moon is completely blocked from Earth’s constantly increasing radio traffic, giving it the perfect view to the most sensitive radio signals in the Universe. Watch the video.

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The Lunar Farside: A Science and Exploration Imperative talk

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 18:50:15 +0000

The Lunar Farside: A Science and Exploration Imperative talk Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/17/2017 - 11:50

Authors: Jack Burns and Raul Monsalve

Abstract: Neither humans nor robots have ever landed on the Moon’s farside. This is surprising given that the Moon is the closest planetary body to Earth and the farside has a land area nearly 4 times larger than that of the United States. Yet, after 60 years of scientific exploration beyond Earth, the farside remains untouched. The lunar farside presents a unique opportunity for science and exploration. It contains the oldest impact crater in the inner solar system – the South Pole Aitken (SPA) Basin. A human-assisted sample return mission to the SPA basin, a priority of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey, will provide a unique test of the lunar cataclysm hypothesis which posits that the Moon and Earth were severely bombarded by asteroids and comets ~4 billion years ago. A major rearrangement of planet distances relative to the Sun and the first single-cell life on Earth both occurred at about this same time. Connecting these pieces using the SPA basin is a scientific imperative. Equally important, the farside is a unique preserve for low frequency radio astronomy and cosmology. The farside is free of Earth-based radio-frequency interference (RFI) and ionospheric effects. An array of radio telescopes will allow us to matchlessly probe the first generation of stars and galaxies using the redshifted hyperfine 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen, to image radio emission from coronal mass ejections for the first time, and to study space weather in extrasolar planetary systems to investigate suitability for life. In this talk, we will discuss locations on the farside that are best suited for these science goals. For example, radio arrays must be far enough from the limb and/or deep within craters to reduce diffraction effects from RFI by factors of ~80 dB. We will discuss regions such as the Schrödinger impact basin and the Tsiolkovsky crater as candidate landing sites to accommodate science and exploration goals.

Download talk (PDF file) (3.1MB).

Watch video.

January 12, 2018
Jack Burns

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