An astronomy team from the University of Colorado is hoping that the far side of the moon will offer their telescopes immunity from radio interference as they explore the origins of the universe.
The only way to observe these dark ages of the universe’ past is to look for faint radio signals from neutral hydrogen, which filled the early universe. To do so telescopes need to receive radio waves at frequencies below 100 megahertz, and interference from radio sources on Earth such as FM radio and the planet’s ionosphere can disturb these signals. Telescopes behind the moon, however, would not have to contend with Earth’s ionosphere or radio chatter.
If selected as a mission by NASA, the Dark Ages Radio Explorer will orbit the moon at an altitude of 200 kilometres. It will collect neutral-hydrogen signals between 40 and 120 megahertz, which corresponds to 80 million to 420 million years after the big bang.
