Scientists want to deploy telescope on the far side of Moon to explore universe’s ‘Dark Ages’

But since there were no stars or planets in the Dark Ages, it is a point in time that scientists have never been able to observe before.

According to a special review published in the journal Science, the Dark Ages happened somewhere between the time when cosmic microwave background radiation was emitted and when the evolution of the universe’s structure led to the gravitational collapse of objects leading to the creation of stars.

According to DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, if cosmologists can detect radio waves from the Dark Ages, this could help uncover the answers to some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, like the nature of dark energy or the formation of the universe itself.

“Modeling the universe is easier before stars have formed. We can calculate almost everything exactly. So far, we can only make predictions about earlier stages of the universe using a benchmark called the cosmic microwave background. The Dark Ages Signal would provide a new benchmark. And if predictions based on each benchmark don’t match, that means we’ve discovered new physics,” said Brookhaven physicist Anže Slosar, in a press statement.

The Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night), which is a collaboration between NASA and DOE, aims to access signals from the Dark Ages for the first time.

Putting a radio telescope on the far side of the moon

Despite the fact that a lot of people know it as the “dark side of the moon,” the far side of the moon is not always dark. It is only called the dark side because it cannot be seen from Earth but in reality, it has its own day and night cycles.

“The moon and Earth are tidally locked, which means that the moon rotates around its own axis with the same velocity as it does around the Earth. This is why we always see the same side of the moon. But the side we can’t see, the lunar far side, is shielded from many sources of radio interference at night by the moon’s own mass,” added Slosar.

While the far side of the Moon does provide the near radio silence required to observe the Dark Ages, it is also a treacherous environment which presents little to no chance for scientific equipment to just survive, according to Brookhaven. Apart from just surviving, LuSEE-Night also has to transmit signals back to Earth.

According to Brookhaven scientists Paul O’Connor, the Moon is easier to reach than Mars but everything else is more challenging once you get there. O’Connor says this is the reason why only one robotic rover has landed on the Moon in the last 50 years, while six went to Mars. The vacuum environment of the Moon makes removing heat more difficult and also makes equipment more susceptible to radiation.

In order to work on the Moon, LuSEE-NIGHT must reject heat in a vacuum environment during the day and keep itself from freezing at night. And it must do all this while powering itself through 14 days of continuous darkness. Also, don’t forget that it conducting science that is first of its kind.