Last Update: March 14, 2023, 19:05 IST
The radio telescope will be launched in late 2025.
LuSEE-Night is a pathfinder that may be able to study signals from the dark ages.
People interested in the universe have always been curious to know about the ancient past of celestial bodies. Now, scientists are closer to finding the key to unlocking it. In a few years’ time, a small radio telescope on the far side of the Moon may have the potential to help scientists peer into the universe’s distant past. The US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories are developing what is called the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night). The lunar probe has also been developed in collaboration with the Space Science Laboratory at the University of California and NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, reports Space.com.
What will Lucy-Knight do after touching down on the far side of the Moon? Well, the answer is simple: It will attempt to collect measurements of what have been called the “dark ages” of the universe. This is the first measurement of its kind that scientists will be able to get their hands on. If they are able to stay on track with the current schedule to launch, it will be launched in late 2025 on a private robotic lunar lander.
“Up until now, we could only make predictions about the very first stages of the universe using a benchmark called the cosmic microwave background. The Dark Ages signal will provide a new benchmark,” said Brookhaven physicist Ange Schlosser, as reported by Newswise. has been cited. And if the predictions based on each benchmark don’t match, it means we’ve discovered new physics.”
According to Space.com, the Dark Ages refers to a period at the beginning of the universe, lasting approximately 400,000 to 400 million years after the event of the Big Bang. To put this into perspective, this is the time before stars and galaxies were fully formed.
To unlock the secrets, LuSEE-Night will land on what is known as the “dark side of the Moon.” Newswise shared that this is scientifically known as the “Lunar Far Side”. Despite its name, it is not forever dark. In fact, it is called so because of its inability to be seen from Earth. During the cycle of 28 Earth days, it experiences complete darkness for 14 days and then intense sunlight for the next 14 days. As a result, significant temperature changes occur, ranging from 250 to -280 degrees Fahrenheit. What makes this matter more interesting is that it can happen in a matter of hours.
As one can understand, conducting scientific experiments in such a harsh environment is difficult. LuSEE-Night is set to use onboard antennas, radio receivers and a spectrometer to measure the faint radio waves from the dark ages. This is what scientists are calling the Dark Age signal.
However, it should be emphasized that LuSEE-Night does not necessarily achieve significant progress entirely on its own. As a pioneer, its main purpose is to lay the groundwork for more ambitious instruments to be developed in the future.
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