NASA scientists explain why 'building an observatory on the moon' is important for astronomical progress



The moon is a satellite that revolves at a position about 380,000 km away from the earth, and in various aspects such as creating the ebb and flow of the tide by the attractive force, slowing

the rotation speed, and stabilizing the inclination of the earth's axis. It is affecting the earth. NASA has proposed a project to build an observatory on the moon, and NASA scientists explain why human beings are trying to build an observatory on the moon.

Scientists say a telescope on the Moon could advance physics — and they're planning to build one | Salon.com
https://www.salon.com/2021/09/05/scientists-say-a-telescope-on-the-moon-could-advance-physics-and-theyre-hoping-to-build-one/

In April 2020, NASA announced a project to 'turn the crater on the other side of the moon into a radio telescope.' This project, called ' Lunar Crater Radio Telescope ', aims to use the lunar crater as the base of a parabolic antenna and install an antenna with a width of more than 1 km. Although not a formal NASA project at the time of writing, in April 2021 a budget of $ 500,000 was given for further research and development.

NASA Announces Project to 'Transform Lunar Crater into Giant Radio Telescope' --GIGAZINE



The reason for installing a radio telescope on the moon is not just that there is a huge crater that can be used as an antenna. Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay , a robot engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and head of the LCRT project, points out that the ionosphere surrounding the Earth is a barrier to radio telescope observations.

The ionosphere is an ionized (ionized) region of molecules and atoms in the upper atmosphere that protects the earth from harmful rays coming from the sun and space. However, since the ionosphere absorbs space radio waves with wavelengths exceeding 10 meters, it is not possible to observe space radio waves exceeding 10 meters with a radio telescope installed on the earth.

'The ionosphere is so powerful that we can't observe space radio waves with satellites around it,' said Bandyopadhyay. 'Therefore, we need to go to a place protected from the Earth. Optimal. The place is behind the moon. ' Since the moon always faces the earth on only one side, it has the advantage that the back side is always protected from the earth's electromagnetic noise.



It is believed that some space radio waves over 10 meters have their origins in the early days of the universe, and they have valuable information to unravel the mysteries of

dark matter (dark matter) and dark energy (dark energy). There is a possibility that it is. Dark matter accounts for 26.8% of the mass and energy of the entire universe, dark energy accounts for 68.3%, and ordinary matter accounts for 4.9%, and it is very important to solve these mysteries.

Astronomers have some ideas and models about what happened during the Big Bang and what the universe is like today. However, because the understanding of dark matter and dark energy, which occupy most of the universe, has not been deepened, research on the formation and mechanism of the universe is also restricted. Bandyopadhyay said, 'We observe wavelengths above 10 meters and say,'Why are there dark matter and dark energy? What are these patterns? Why are there no more matter or anti-matter in space? I want to understand something like '?'

In addition, although dark matter is an unknown substance at the time of writing the article, Bandyopadhyay thinks that dark matter may be used by humans in the future. Nuclear power was also unknown at the beginning of the 20th century, but it is now used for power generation. 'Our grandchildren may be able to use dark matter for interstellar travel,' Bandyopadhyay said, arguing that research is needed to use dark matter as well.


by Maxwell Hamilton

Of course, building a giant radio telescope on the other side of the moon is not easy. At LCRT, robots, not humans, are planning to build a radio telescope, but the required budget is said to be 1 billion to 5 billion dollars (about 110 billion to 550 billion yen). In addition, it seems that construction requires a spacecraft that carries a wire mesh for radio telescopes and a spacecraft that sends a rover named 'DuAxel' separately. 'This will be a long journey. I'm a young scientist, but I'd be surprised if the project was launched before I retired,' said Bandyopadhyay.

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb argued that the installation on the moon would benefit more than just radio telescopes. The moon is not distorted by the atmosphere, which improves the accuracy of the optical telescope, and the X-ray telescope also benefits because X-rays are not absorbed by the atmosphere. In addition, gravitational wave detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) are not affected by seismic noise, so they have the advantage of being installed on the moon.

in Science, Posted by log1h_ik