I am told that physicists, astronomers, and cosmologists dream about is the placement of a radio telescope on the far side of the moon.
Putting it on the dark side would of course ensure that the planet earth would not be in its way. What is more important, the moon has no atmosphere, so the clarity of radio 'view' the human race would get of distant parts of the cosmos would be ... well, to use a technical phrase, an ass-kicking thrill.
And though a radio telescope would be all that, ambitious scientists have additional related ideas. For example, there is a proposal to put a gravitational wave interferometer in the moon.
Obvious question ... a whaaaaat?
Interferometry is a set of techniques by which waves are made to interfere with one another, creating patterns that convey information.
Usually this sort of measurement involves electromagnetic waves. But the study of gravitational waves is a new thing. The first direct observation of gravity waves was recorded in 2016. Observing them from earth is a tricky matter. The earth is very busy, and one could end up thinking one had detected such a wave from deep space, only to be deflated by the discovery that it was a consequence of earth's own seismic activity.
The moon is much less seismically active than the earth, and much less 'busy' in all respects. So the gravitation wave interferometer should go there, and -- well, we'll learn stuff.
This has me thinking. When we as a species first walked on the moon we were only 60 years away from our first fumbling successes at heavier-than-air flight. Now, another 60 years on are we ready for another such step?
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