NASA is looking at turning a Moon crater into a giant telescope

NASA is looking at turning a Moon crater into a giant telescope

WASHINGTON — NASA is funding an early-stage concept to build a giant telescope in a crater on the far side of the moon through its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, the space agency announced on April 7.

At a kilometer in diameter, the Lunar Crater Telescope would be the largest filled-aperture radio telescope in the Solar System.

Its location on the Moon's far side would isolate the telescope from electromagnetic interference from Earth, as well as allow it to observe longer wavelengths that are blocked by the Earth's ionosphere.

This would allow scientists to observe fingerprints left by the Big Bang as the universe expanded exponentially in less than a trillionth of a second after it came into existence.

NASA has given the project $125,000 for a nine-month study of the concept.

Other projects that received funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program include a lunar landing pad and a robotic explorer for Saturn's moon Enceladus.