Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Racing to Build a Radio Telescope on the Moon

universetoday.com · 3hShare

Remember the “Wow!” signal? That high energy radio signature happened in 1977, when the Earth was much “quieter” in the radio band. If it were to happen today, it probably wouldn’t even move the needle on the background noise of human radio chatter. Signals from satellites, radar, and other human technology have crowded out extraterrestrial radio signals, limiting our ability to monitor the heavens for signals like the still unexplained one received in 1977. What’s more, the ionosphere partially blocks lower frequency radio signals, making them even harder to see from the ground. So, for a long time, scientists and engineers have been proposing putting a radio telescope on one of the last spots in the solar system that is safe from our ever growing sphere of radio influence - the far side of the Moon. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv from lead author David DeBoer of the University of Oxford and his co-authors, lays out a plan to do just that - and stresses that we need to d

First report: E.P. Church secures radio frequency, prepares to launch Bremen Radio — myjoyonline.com, 3d