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The artist’s impression of the Cosmocube spacecraft led by the UK, which is designed to orbit the moon and listen to weak radio signals from the early universe. ; | Credit: Nicolo Bernardini (SSSTL Ltd) and Kaan Artuc (Cambridge University)
A team of scientists led by the UK creates a miniature spacecraft that will fly the moon to detect weak radio signals from the universe infancy.
The proposed mission, known as the Cosmocube, seeks to “listen” to these ancient signals from the far side of the moon. It will be directed to the “cosmic dark age”-critic but hidden era, about 50 to 1 billion years after the Great Bang, when the first stars, galaxies and black holes were formed.
“It is incredible how far this radio waves have gone, now coming with the news of the history of the universe,” David Bacon, a cosmologist at the UK Portsmut University, said. “The next step is to go to the quieter side of the moon to hear that news.”
Watching this distant era is very difficult, says astronomers. At that time, the universe was filled with dense fog of neutral hydrogen gas, which blocked the visible light to travel freely through space, making the early space opaque.
However, hydrogen, which is the most abundant element in the universe, emits a characteristic radio signal with a frequency of 1,420 megahertz, which corresponds to a wavelength of about 8.3 inch (21 centimeter). When the first illuminated objects caught fire, they subtly transformed hydrogen around them, replacing the strength and profile of this signal. According to these variants, the statement may contain an undamaged view of the formation of the first bright objects.
Although this signal has been thoroughly investigated in a nearby universe, it is much more difficult to detect its much weaker equivalent from the earliest days of the universe. To capture these ancient signals, almost complete radio silence, which is virtually impossible to reach on Earth, where electronic devices and atmospheric interference create a constant background.
“It’s like trying to hear that whisper while playing a loud concert,” says Eloy de Lera Acedo, Associate Professor at Cosmocube University of Cosmocube. “This makes it really difficult to pick up those weak signals from billions of years.”
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According to the statement, the Cosmocube mission would take advantage of the far side of the moon, which acts as a natural shield from the Earth’s radio emissions. Based on this unique point, the purpose of the probe is to install a sensitive radiometer to detect low-frequency radio signals.
The Cosmocube satellite model is performed in thermal vacuum tests at RAL space facilities. | Credit: Dr. Will Grainger, RAL SPACE
Mission data could also help solve Hablo’s tension-fun puzzle in cosmology, which includes controversial measurements of the universe expansion speed, based on the observations of the early universe and the local universe.
Laboratory instrument prototypes are already undergoing the environment. The team plans to launch Cosmocube over the next four to five years to reach Lunar Orbit until the end of the decade, the team said.