It’s Time NASA Built A ‘Cosmic Dawn’ Telescope On The Moon—And It Has Four Astonishing Plans To Choose From

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 22:46:39 +0000

It’s Time NASA Built A ‘Cosmic Dawn’ Telescope On The Moon—And It Has Four Astonishing Plans To Choose From Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/28/2021 - 16:46

Jamie Carter

From Forbes: Let’s do astronomy from the Moon. Spurred on by the collapse of the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, the continuing degradation of the night sky by light pollution and the coming era of mega-constellations of satellites come four projects that seek to take astronomy to the Moon’s far side.

Lunar astronomy is an idea that’s been around since the 1960s, but new engineering and technology is at last making astronomy on the Moon a real possibility.

Why bother? About 240,000 miles/380,000 kilometers from Earth, observations can be made of low frequency radio in radio-quiet conditions and also in ultraviolet light—something blocked by Earth’s atmosphere—that could help reveal the unexplored early cosmos. And since it takes the Moon 27 days to orbit Earth, a telescope would be in darkness for half the month and able to observe the same object for almost two weeks at a time.

Astronomy has been done before both by Apollo astronauts and, since 2013, by China’s Chang-e rovers. Should NASA now commit to building the next big space observatory on the lunar surface? Read more...

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NASA-funded project to explore one-of-a-kind lunar observatory

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 21:46:29 +0000

NASA-funded project to explore one-of-a-kind lunar observatory Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/01/2021 - 14:46

Daniel Strain

From ��񱦵� Today: Lunar Resources, Inc. of Houston, Texas, and the ��񱦵� are launching a new research effort to lay the groundwork for a one-of-a-kind lunar radio astronomy observatory—a network of hundreds of miles of antennas constructed on the far side of the moon using materials harvested from the lunar surface itself.

NASA recently awarded the team a $125,000 grant to complete a nine-month study on the project, called the Lunar Farside Radio Observatory, or FarView. The funding is part of the 2021 Phase I NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The program is highly competitive with less than 5% of proposals selected for an award.

The NIAC program selects novel concepts to transform future NASA missions with the creation of breakthroughs—such as radically better or entirely new aerospace concepts—while engaging America's innovators and entrepreneurs as partners in the journey. Jack Burns, a professor in the departments of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and Physics at ��񱦵�, developed the concept for the unprecedented observatory. Read more...

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Lunar Radio Astronomy Observatory

It’s Time NASA Built A ‘Cosmic Dawn’ Telescope On The Moon—And It Has Four Astonishing Plans To Choose From

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NASA-funded project to explore one-of-a-kind lunar observatory

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