The Far Side of the Moon May Host the World's Most Sensitive Telescope, Shielded From Interference

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

NASA is advancing plans to construct a radio telescope on the Moon's far side - a location uniquely shielded from the ever-increasing interference caused by Earth's expanding satellite networks. This ambitious endeavor, known as the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope, envisions deploying a massive wire mesh reflector within a lunar crater.

The project's innovative design relies on advanced robotics to suspend the reflector using cables, and if development proceeds as planned, the observatory could be operational sometime in the 2030s. Current projections estimate the cost at over $2 billion.

The far side of the Moon offers an unparalleled environment for radio astronomy, being naturally protected from the relentless radio noise and light pollution that plague observatories on Earth. The recent surge in satellite launches, especially from private ventures like Starlink, has led to a dramatic increase in orbiting satellites.

This proliferation raises concerns among astronomers about space debris, light pollution, and, most critically, the leakage of radio-frequency radiation.

Such interference poses a significant threat to sensitive scientific instruments designed to detect faint signals from the universe's earliest epochs. Federico Di Vruno, an astronomer affiliated with the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, told LiveScience, "it would mean that we are artificially closing 'windows' to observe our universe" if radio astronomy on Earth becomes impossible due to interference.

The LCRT is being developed by a team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, part of the California Institute of Technology. Since its initial proposal in 2020, the concept has progressed through several phases of funding from NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts. The team is currently building a prototype for testing at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory in California.

Gaurangi Gupta, a research scientist working on the project, explained that preparations are underway to apply for the next round of funding. If successful, she told LiveScience, the LCRT could transition into a "fully-fledged mission" within the next decade.

The proposed telescope features a mesh reflector spanning approximately 1,150 feet - making it larger than the now-defunct Arecibo telescope, though not as large as China's FAST observatory. The team has already selected a preferred crater in the Moon's Northern Hemisphere for the installation, but the precise site remains confidential.

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