Lunar telescope could reveal the Dark Ages of the universe
Vladimir Vustyansky/JPL/NASA
This illustration shows the proposed Lunar Crater Radio Telescope on the far side of the moon.
Scientists want to build a radio telescope on the far side of the moon to help pull back the curtain on the mysteries surrounding the beginning of the universe.
While not an official full-fledged NASA mission, the concept of the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope, or LCRT, has been in development for years. The project recently received a $500,000 boost upon entering the second phase of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program.
Illuminates the dark cosmic ages by Jake Pearson
In the first stage NASA The idea was to see robots fix wire nets in a crater far from the moon and create a radio telescope to explore the rise of the universe.
After years of development, the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) project received $ 500,000 to support overtime as it entered the second phase of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIIC) program. Although not yet a NASA mission, the LCRT describes a mission concept that could change mankind’s view of the universe.
The main purpose of the LCRT is to measure the long-wave radio waves produced by the cosmic dark ages – hundreds of millions of years later. The Big BangBut before the first stars began to exist. Cosmologists knew very little about this period, but at the time they answered some of the greatest mysteries in science that could be limited to long-wave radio radiation from the gas that could fill the universe.
This lunar telescope could pull back the curtain on the cosmic dark ages
Scott Sutherland
Monday, May 10th 2021, 3:15 pm - Converting an entire crater on the far side of the Moon into a radio telescope could reveal secrets from the Universe s earliest moments.
Escaping radio chatter on the far side of the Moon, a new telescope could allow astronomers to peer back into a time before the first stars ignited in the cosmos.
NASA has supported some ambitious projects in the past. Landing the first people on the Moon, putting a continuously inhabited space station in orbit, and flying a helicopter on Mars, are just three examples that immediately come to mind. Each of these has come with enormous payoffs for science, the space exploration community, and the public.
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.