The quiet side of the Moon
Radio astronomers hope to establish observatories on the Moon’s far side, which permanently faces away from Earth. Radio telescopes there will be shielded from the electromagnetic noise of human civilization and the transmissions generated naturally by the Earth. During the two-week lunar night, the Sun’s noise also is blocked. Receivers will be able to listen to the whispers of the universe in unprecedented sensitivity. In addition, low radio frequencies that don’t penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere can be heard from the Moon.
NASA’s Lunar Science Institute has funded Dr. Jack Burns at the University of Colorado-Boulder to develop concepts for radio telescopes on the far side. They would be emplaced robotically. His first proposed project is the Dark Ages Radio Explorer, to determine when the first stars and black holes formed following the Big Bang.
All Apollo crews and Soviet robots landed on the Moon’s near side that always faces Earth, in part because constant communication to Earth is possible there. Robots operating on the far side will need communications satellites (none are yet planned) and a degree of autonomy to work when no relay link is available.
