Radio Telescopes on Moon to Study Cosmic Dark Ages

The Narrative Fallacy brings news that NASA has awarded a $500,000 grant to develop plans for an array of radio telescopes to be located on the moon. The telescopes would be used to gather data from the earliest stars and galaxies, observations of which are difficult from Earth due to the ionosphere and terrestrial broadcasts. The grant was part of NASA's sponsoring of 19 "Next Generation Astronomy Missions." Quoting: "The Lunar Array for Radio Cosmology (LARC) project ... is planned as a huge array of hundreds of telescope modules designed to pick up very-low-frequency radio emissions. The array will cover an area of up to two square kilometers; the modules would be moved into place on the lunar surface by automated vehicles. The new lunar telescopes would add greatly to the capabilities of a low-frequency radio telescope array now under construction in Western Australia, one of the most radio-quiet areas on Earth."

Hrm.

[KublaiKhan]

Just a bit far to go on a LARC, ain't it?

< /british >

Re:Outstanding

[fred fleenblat]

(a) the cost of transit to/from the moon per pound is so high that only the lightest, skinniest people like paris hilton will be allowed in space. in fact they should be required to be sent into space.

(b) the moon has no oceans, therefore 100% of land area is available for condominiums, hotels, highrises, and shopping districts. Unlike the earth which of which only 20% or so is habitable land. Ideally we would launch the most habitable parts, like Washington DC, to the moon in their entirety to take full advantage of the economy of scale, then convert what was underneath Washington DC into higher value land, like a swamp.

(c) as you could see from last wednesdays lunar eclipse, the educational value of viewing the lunar eclipse from the moon would have been greater than viewing it from earth. No child left behind and all that.

What was the question?

Re:Outstanding

[sholden]

And I'm sure the Chinese will lease some of it the US.

Re:Outstanding

[Anonymous Coward]

if we land on the moon, aren't we the aliens?

Re:Outstanding

[gardyloo]

Not true! The only thing there is a "sound"stage where the aliens faked their Earth landing.

Re:Outstanding

[Protonk]

?? Alpha male?

I mean, 500k is a fair amount of money to spend on PR (Far, FAR less than the 2b we spend on recruiting/bonuses for the american military), but my point was that it wasn't spend on PR. I just wasn't. It is beyond disingenuous to claim that this is a PR stunt. It is a research grant. Spending it on PR would be something like this:

"NASA spent 500,000 dollars today to secure the passage of three adult entertainment stars on the space shuttle today, hoping to determine the impact of space on threesomes."

That's PR. This is a research grant for a radio telescope array.