By 
January 6th, 2023
Work is progressing on scoping out a Moon-based radio telescope.
A Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) on the lunar farside, currently funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, is a proposed nearly 1,150 feet (350 meter) in diameter reflecting telescope on the farside of the Moon.
Candidate farside observatory site.
Image credit: NASA/Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay
Cosmology duties
As foreseen by Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay of NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory and colleagues, this off-world facility — perhaps installed by Artemis crew members — would enable scientific discoveries in the field of Dark Ages cosmology by observing the early Universe in a wavelength band that has not been explored by humans to date.
Image credit: Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay
Image credit: Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay
Special thanks to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) group for spotlighting this work-in-progress.
Posted in Space News
