Radio Telescopes on Moon to Study Cosmic Dark Ages 118
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."
Outstanding (Score:5, Interesting)
This requires less investment than manned missions (which dictate a return and have a HUGE space/safety cost). It will allow us to see other things than what is suggested in the grant--Changra, hubble and the like all have been used for things that were not conceived of during the design phase.
Re:Outstanding (Score:3, Interesting)
I too, however, am optimistic. Not so much about what the telescope will grant us, but rather the challenges to material science. Solutions to those challenges will prove extremly important if we ever want to have a prolonged or perminent presence on the Moon.
Re:Outstanding (Score:4, Interesting)
The Standard Objection Applies.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Outstanding (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you just let stuff spill out of your ears when you make comments on this sort of stuff?
First, the array would be bigger than Arecibo, which is already smaller (by virtue of not being an array) than others on earth right now. The limit to accuracy for those arrays is RF interference and the ionosphere.
Second, NASA is ALWAYS short money and long on projects because they are tasked with building fault proof projects for present needs (as elected officials don't care about space exploration 25 years from now) under constant cuts (because cutting funds for nasa doesn't anger hawks and doesn't seem as bad as cutting funds for school lunches) and with dubious management (political appointees over engineers).
Third, wh-----wait a fucking minute, who modded you "interesting"? fuck.
Re:Outstanding (Score:5, Interesting)
(a) The telescopes and related equipment, or at least the parts directly in conctact with the lunar surface, will not be moving around after touchdown so the amount of dust that gets disturbed should be minimal and landing air bags (ala the mars missions) should help shield any sensitive parts during the landing cycle. the parts that do move will not disturb the dust because they will not be in direct contact with the lunar surface AND there are no air currents or other atmospheric effects on the moon to whip up dust from parts moving around (even if they are only millimeters above average surface elevation) which are not in direct contact with the lunar surface.
(b) radio telescopes can be made out of metals and durable plastics without the need for sensitive optics such as finely ground glass lenses so the danger from abbrasive lunar dust could be minimized in this regard by judicious use of durable and hardened parts.
The micrometeorites are a more serious issue. There have been subsequent pictures taken by probes of known Apollo landing sites which reveal new small craters (i.e. craters which occurred near the landing sites in between the time when the probes took the pictures and when the Apollo astronauts left the moon on the ascent stages of their landing vehicles). It is possible that many smaller meteorites have struck the Apollo lander descent stages that were left behind on the moon (although nobody can be sure because they are too small to resolve individually on the lunar surface by telescope and nobody has gone back since to check on their condition). However, even with this potential problem the radio telescope offers an interesting solution.
The individual telescope elements of the radio telescope are less important than the network of them which makes up the whole. This why radio telescopes on earth, such as the very long baseline array [wikipedia.org], with stations on different continents aggregated together into a single "picture", are distributed rather then building one VERY large singular dish (i.e. one half the size of earth). The individual telescope elements on the moon could be replaced with new ones as needed if individual units, for whatever reason, become non-operable.
Re:The Standard Objection Applies.. (Score:5, Interesting)
To send signals back you would need a relay satelite thougth
A number of other interesting concept studies ... (Score:2, Interesting)
I particularly like the idea
Re:Outstanding (Score:3, Interesting)
Why do you say that? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hrrmmm (Score:3, Interesting)
The current cosmological model of the Universe supposes that our position within the Universe is typical, not special. We are not located at the center of the Universe, but are rather taking part in its global expansion. I hope this answers your question.
Regards,
Padi Boyd
for the Ask an Astrophysicist
Re:If you don't get it on/near the poles (Score:3, Interesting)
Next Generation? (Score:2, Interesting)