Motivation and possibilities of affordable low-frequency radio interferometry in space

Details Motivation and possibilities of affordable low-frequency radio interferometry in space Motivation and possibilities of affordable low-frequency radio interferometry in space

2003-05-23

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0305458v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to A&A

Scientific paper

The motivation to build spaceborne interferometric arrays for low-frequency radio astronomy is widely recognised because frequencies below the ionospheric cutoff are inaccessible for ground-based radio telescopes. We discuss the theoretical possibilities to use low-frequency spacecraft arrays to detect signals from magnetized extrasolar planets, including earthlike ones. A major uncertainty that prohibits us from knowing if it is possible to detect exoplanet cyclotron maser signals is the incomplete knowledge of the properties of the interstellar plasma. We also present some ideas of how to construct efficient and affordable space-based radio telescopes. We discuss two possibilities, a log-periodic antenna in the spin plane and a two-spacecraft concept where one spacecraft holds a large parabolic wire mesh reflector and the other one contains the receiver. In the latter case, the effective area could be of the order of 1 km$^2$. The purpose of the paper is to stress once more the importance of spaceborne low-frequency measurements by bringing in the intriguing possibility of detecting earthlike exoplanet radio emissions and to demonstrate that building even very large low-frequency antennas in space is not necessarily too expensive.

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