Solar and Planetary Observations with a Lunar Radio Telescope

Details Solar and Planetary Observations with a Lunar Radio Telescope Solar and Planetary Observations with a Lunar Radio Telescope

May 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agusmsh33a..12k&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #SH33A-12

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

5400 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets, 6900 Radio Science, 7500 Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy, 7900 Space Weather

Scientific paper

Ground-based radio telescopes cannot observe at frequencies below about 10 MHz (wavelengths longer than 30 m) because of ionospheric absorption. The Lunar Imaging Radio Array (LIRA) is a mission concept in which an array of radio telescopes is deployed on the Moon, as part of the Vision for Space Exploration, with the aim of extending radio observations to lower frequencies than are possible from the Earth. LIRA would provide the capability for dedicated monitoring of solar and planetary bursts as well as the search for magnetospheric emissions from extrasolar planets. The highest sensitivity observations can be accomplished by locating LIRA on the far side of the Moon. The array would be composed of 10-12 radial arms, each 1-2 km in length. Each arm would have several hundred dipole antennas and feedlines printed on a very thin sheet of kapton with a total mass of about 300 kg. This would provide a convenient way to deploy thousands of individual antennas and a centrally condensed distribution of array baselines. The lunar farside provides shielding from terrestrial natural and technological radio interference and freedom from the corrupting influence of Earth's ionosphere. This paper will describe the science case for LIRA as well as various options for array deployment and data transmission to Earth. Part of this work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Basic research in radio astronomy at the NRL is supported by the Office of Naval Research.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Solar and Planetary Observations with a Lunar Radio Telescope does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Solar and Planetary Observations with a Lunar Radio Telescope, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Solar and Planetary Observations with a Lunar Radio Telescope will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1026643