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Space & Astronomy

NASA lunar telescope looks like the Death Star

By T.K. Randall
April 12, 2020 · Comment icon 6 comments

The project is nothing if not ambitious. Image Credit: NASA / Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay
A new plan to build a telescope on the Moon will make our lunar neighbor look like the Star Wars battle station.
The dark side of the Moon, which permanently faces away from the Earth, has long been earmarked as the perfect place to build an observatory thanks to its unique level of radio silence.

Now it looks as though the construction of such a telescope may actually happen after NASA funded a proposal to build "the largest filled-aperture radio telescope in the solar system."

Measuring a whopping 1 kilometer in diameter, the observatory would be situated inside an existing crater which, in addition to being convenient, would make the Moon look a bit like the Death Star.

Named the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT), the project has received $125,000 from NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program so that it can be developed further.
The idea was originally devised by NASA JPL roboticist Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay.

"[W]e will mostly be focusing on the mechanical design of LCRT, searching for suitable craters on the Moon, and comparing the performance of LCRT against other ideas that have been proposed in the literature," he said.

The concept is certainly ambitious - requiring the use of wall-climbing robots to unfold wire-mesh scaffolding across the crater's rim. If successful however, it could provide unparalleled views.

"LCRT could enable tremendous scientific discoveries in the field of cosmology by observing the early universe in the 10-50m wavelength band (i.e., 6-30MHz frequency band), which has not been explored by humans to date," said Bandyopadhyay.

Source: Vice.com | Comments (6)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by third_eye 4 years ago
They're here...  ~
Comment icon #2 Posted by micahc 4 years ago
I am pretty certain the moon is flat.  it looks flat.  Astronomer Dean Martin said its like a pizza pie.
Comment icon #3 Posted by Seti42 4 years ago
Saying building something in a crater on the moon will make it look like the Death Star is a bit much, lol. Besides, we all know it's Saturn's moon Mimas that looks like the Death Star.
Comment icon #4 Posted by dlh 4 years ago
We've seen photos of what looks like a telescope, along with other artificial structures, on the moon.  Why build another one?
Comment icon #5 Posted by Waspie_Dwarf 4 years ago
What is this "we"? You may think that you have done, astronomers, planetary scientists and other people that actually know what they are talking about haven't. If you want to discuss your belief that there are artificial structures on the moon feel free, but please do so in the correct section of the site: Extraterrestrial Life & The UFO Phenomenon
Comment icon #6 Posted by Torviking 4 years ago
Should be able to resonate as well if it�s hollow, watch this space.


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