The Moon still has much to tell us about the early solar system:
The Moon still has much to tell us about the early solar system. Encouragingly, it also has scientific value as a platform for observational astronomy.
Lunar exploration is undergoing a renaissance. Dozens of missions, organised by multiple space agencies—and increasingly by commercial companies—are set to visit the Moon by the end of this decade. Most of these will involve small robotic spacecraft, but NASA's ambitious Artemis program, aims to return humans to the lunar surface by the middle of the decade.
[...] The potential role for astronomy of Earth's natural satellite was discussed at a Royal Society meeting earlier this year. The meeting itself had, in part, been sparked by the enhanced access to the lunar surface now in prospect. Several types of astronomy would benefit. The most obvious is radio astronomy, which can be conducted from the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth—the far side.
The lunar far side is permanently shielded from the radio signals generated by humans on Earth. During the lunar night, it is also protected from the Sun. These characteristics make it probably the most "radio-quiet" location in the whole solar system as no other planet or moon has a side that permanently faces away from the Earth. It is therefore ideally suited for radio astronomy.
[...] Radio waves with wavelengths longer than about 15m are blocked by Earth's ionoshere. But radio waves at these wavelengths reach the Moon's surface unimpeded. For astronomy, this is the last unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum, and it is best studied from the lunar far side. Observations of the cosmos at these wavelengths come under the umbrella of "low frequency radio astronomy." These wavelengths are uniquely able to probe the structure of the early universe, especially the cosmic "dark ages," an era before the first galaxies formed.
[...] ... another potential application of far side radio astronomy is trying to detect radio waves from charged particles trapped by magnetic fields—magnetospheres—of planets orbiting other stars. This would help to assess how capable these exoplanets are of hosting life. Radio waves from exoplanet magnetospheres would probably have wavelengths greater than 100m, so they would require a radio-quiet environment in space. Again, the far side of the Moon will be the best location.
The Moon also offers opportunities for other types of astronomy as well. Astronomers have lots of experience with optical and infrared telescopes operating in free space, such as the Hubble telescope and JWST. However, the stability of the lunar surface may confer advantages for these types of instrument. Moreover, there are craters at the lunar poles that receive no sunlight. Telescopes that observe the universe at infrared wavelengths are very sensitive to heat and therefore have to operate at low temperatures. JWST, for example, needs a huge sunshield to protect it from the sun's rays. On the Moon, a natural crater rim could provide this shielding for free.
Journal References Mentioned:
DOI: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2019.0564
DOI: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2019.0570
DOI: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2020.0212
DOI: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2019.0562
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2023, @03:14PM (2 children)
by any signal from earth, not orbiting space craft in the future.. although it will still be relatively "quiet"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2023, @06:15PM (1 child)
The article makes this distinction, but also points out that there are plans of people running all over the place (and in fact, China is on the far side right now), and those signals may be very loud if we don't plan ahead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2023, @01:17PM
"plan ahead"... does that mean shooting down noisy birds?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Thursday April 20 2023, @04:31PM (4 children)
Shoulda had a telescope/telescopes there long ago.
Shoulda had a base up there long ago.
Shoulda been exploring there and from there long ago.
Instead, we got a jack-ass/jack-asses wanting to just throw people at Mars and kill them, with very little experience building bases and surviving on 'foreign' soil.
Go back to the moon. And THEN beyond.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday April 20 2023, @09:41PM (2 children)
We've spent a number of decades going round and round in Low Earth Orbit. There should have been a semi-permanent crewed Moon base for scientific research by 1980.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2023, @12:47AM (1 child)
By Apollo 12 people already were "meh." Coming out of Apollo and Vietnam, very quickly the pressure was on the Nixon administration for how much money was being spent on a space program that achieved its goal and most people moved on from.
(Score: 3, Touché) by turgid on Friday April 21 2023, @09:10AM
Which shows how short-sighted and lacking in imagination people are in general.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Friday April 21 2023, @01:04AM
Really not a problem here. We have plenty of resources for both. My take is that private sector will get to the Moon before Mars, but not much before. We'll probably see synergistic, simultaneous development of both.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Thursday April 20 2023, @09:12PM
Aren't there already plans to build at least one lunar satellite constellation? [esa.int] Those astronomers will complain about that too.
Astronomers will complain more loudfully if there are even more lunar satellite constellations. [gizmodo.com]. It's not just the ESA that can build lunar satellite constellations.
Soons the Chinese will get in on the actions.
Then the Indians are being interested to be getting in on the action.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2, Funny) by ChrisMaple on Friday April 21 2023, @02:04AM
It's taken us 40 years to find what sounds like a good excuse to waste money on radio astronomy.