Episode 615: The Far Side Of The Moon Is The Perfect Place For a Radio Telescope

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.

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Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / [email protected]

Karla Thompson - @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fw

Chad Weber - [email protected]

References:

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/leag/white-papers-astronomy/FARSIDE_190710_Final.pdf

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planck

https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/science/firstLight.html

https://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/pcr/Data/pdf/Hydrogen%2021-cm%20Emission%20line-final.pdf

https://www.universetoday.com/144206/theres-now-an-operational-radio-telescope-on-the-far-side-of-the-moon/

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