The Moon as an Astronomical Platform: Building the 1 st Large Scale Lunar Farside Radio Telescope

One of the major potential uses of the Moon as an observing platform would be to develop a very low frequency radio telescope on the farside of the Moon. Such a telescope must be able to observe at wavelengths unaffected by the Earth’s radio noise and in regions of the radio spectrum where the Earth’s ionosphere/atmosphere is opaque. Another advantage arises from the fact that the telescope would be shielded from the Sun’s radio-noise during the lunar night. There is an extensive list of science targets such as: planetary and exoplanet magnetospheres (by observing radio aurora and radiation belt emissions), stellar and solar radio emissions for better understanding of space weather, active galactic nuclei emissions, imaging black holes, and the study of the universe during the cosmic dawn and dark ages. This impressive list of science objectives will only be accomplished if a significant radio telescope structure can be assembled and operated on the lunar farside that will be delivered by a super heavy lift launch vehicle (SHLLV). Currently, only the Space Launch System’s (SLS) has the capacity and ability to deliver ~46 metric tons (mt) of equipment to the lunar farside.