Our natural satellite can help humanity in many more ways than anyone would have dared to even imagine a few decades ago. Returning humans to the Moon for building a colony there is a great idea, but sending machines to do a similar job for us can be just as useful.
CBC.ca reveals NASA’s wild plan to build the largest telescope ever on the largest space object from the night sky. The structure would be a kilometer-diameter radio telescope fitting in a giant crater.
Meet the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope
Since it would be a little too complicated to hire humans for the unusual space job, scientists can do it in a more futuristic way: by sending diligent robots there.
The imposing structure in question is the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope, a wire-mesh antenna in a dish shape that would be suspended in a crater of three kilometers wide and located on the far side of the Moon. The goal is to bring scientists more answers for what happened during the early Universe.
Bandyopadhyay declared for Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald:
We all want to know what happened. How did the Universe evolve? What happened after the Big Bang?
Bandyopadhyay says that the robots needed to build the whole structure are currently being tested at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA. He also adds:
These robots are called DuAxel, and they are actively being built at JPL for over a decade now. And these robots have the specialty that they can go down almost steep terrain like just cliff faces.
While the project is only an early stage engineering feasibility study, we’re eagerly waiting for updates in the near future. Until then, let’s not forget to keep an eye on the Artemis mission that aims to return humans to the Moon.
