Ira Flatow

Thanks for listening.

Hi, I'm Ira Plato, and you're listening to Science Friday.

In early April, all eyes were on the moon, right, with the lunar flyby of the Artemis space mission, and they got an unprecedented view of the lunar far side.

But researchers are working to put eyes on the far side of the moon in another way, by delivering a tiny radio telescope there.

It's called Lucy Knight, and joining me to talk about it is Anja Slosar, science lead for the mission.

Welcome to Science Friday.

Hello, thank you very much.

Anja, describe this little radio telescope for me, if you will.

So I should not be picturing this big, giant, Arecibo-type radio dish.

We're talking about a demonstration project, a little project, right?

Now, there's been talk that it can see something called the Dark Ages signal.

What is that?

Is this sort of seen as a way to pave the way for future radio telescopes on the far side of the moon?

Are you hoping to be able to see these dark age signals or not?

That is sounding exciting.

So how do you get to the far side of the moon?

Well, the Chinese were the first to land a vessel on the far side and return samples.

You're looking to be the first to put a telescope there.

Well, I have a practical question for you.

If it's on the far side of the moon and the moon is always facing away from the Earth, how do you get your signals back to Earth?