British satellites set to reveal the universe's mysterious beginnings
What's the story
A UK-based space company, Blue Skies Space, is designing a fleet of satellites that will orbit the Moon and map the early universe.
The Italian Space Agency has commissioned the project to Blue Skies Space, which hopes to detect faint radio signals from the dawn of our universe.
These signals, originating less than a million years after the Big Bang, are challenging to capture from Earth due to human-made radio interference.
Strategic location
Moon's far side offers unique advantage
Dr. Marcell Tessenyi, CEO of Blue Skies Space, explained that the Moon's far side, shielded from radio noise, presents an optimal location for these observations.
"We want to be able to peek into those dark ages and get knowledge of large-scale structures of the early universe. Doing this from the Earth's surface is very difficult," he said.
The Italian Space Agency has allocated €200,000 for this project.
Historical data
Signals could provide insights into early universe
The signals these satellites will be designed to detect are believed to come from less than a million years after the Big Bang.
This was before the first stars formed, when the universe was mostly made up of hydrogen gas.
These signals sit in FM radio range and their detection could offer invaluable insights into this early stage of cosmic history.
Space exploration
NASA's lunar radio telescope and future plans
NASA has already taken steps in this direction with its ROLSES-1 (Radio wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath) telescope.
It was mounted on an Intuitive Machines spacecraft and survived, despite some equipment malfunctions, after landing last year.
Later this year, NASA plans to launch LuSEE-Lite, a small radio telescope, on the lunar far side. The agency also plans to build a large-scale radio telescope on Moon using robots.
Satellite integration
Blue Skies Space's proposed solution for lunar observation
Blue Skies Space has proposed to use simple CubeSats fitted with commercially available components.
These satellites could orbit the Moon and be incorporated into the European Space Agency's Moonlight program which aims to establish a constellation of satellites in lunar orbit for communications and navigation.
Blue Skies' planned infrastructure could ensure proper positioning of astronomy observation satellites, relaying data back to Earth efficiently.