Image credit – Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay
Space is a vast and open place that is still largely unexplored by humans due to the current limitations of our technology. In fact, we are probably in our infancy when it comes to understanding space and knowing what is out there, but it seems that we are taking steps to figure it out.
In fact, NASA has recently awarded additional funding to a variety of projects under its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, where one of the projects by JPL roboticist Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay seems to float the idea of building a telescope in the far side of the moon, or rather in one of the moon’s natural craters.
As you can see in the image above, it does look a bit like the Death Star from Star Wars, but it is in fact a telescope which Bandyopadhyay is calling the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope. This is an ultra-long-wavelength radio telescope that will be capable of capturing weaker signals traveling through space, thus allowing us to better observe the universe based on wavelengths that are further away and far away from the noise emitted by Earth’s ionosphere.
NASA has awarded this project $120,000 to move it forward, and should Bandyopadhyay come up with a convincing proposal, it will then move to the more advanced stages, which could potentially result in the telescope actually being built.
Filed in . Read more about NASA, Science and Space. Source: gizmodo