Astronomers call for radio silence on the far side of the moon

[Admin]

There's a growing and passionate call for preserving radio silence on the far side of the moon in order to protect the possibility of conducting valuable radio astronomy.

Astronomers call for radio silence on the far side of the moon : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

This article states the problem, but the explanation of the solution seems to not include the technically obvious issue of how to use a science base on the far side of the Moon without introducing some electromagnetic pollution.

There is a need for location and communication that would seem to require radio frequency transmissions to and from lunar satellites in order to communicate with Earth.

I guess the frequencies used, and maybe the timing of the emissions could be controlled so as to not interfere with the scientific goals. But, I think that deserves some explanation in an article such as this.

 

[Classical Motion]

By the time we have any worth while instruments on the far side, we will have laser networks covering the moon and earth. The radio and most of the IR EM should remain quiet. Unless you get a CB-er.

 

[24launch]

It's a challenge to be sure and definitely the time to discuss and make agreements is now as things are moving fast. The biggest challenge will be getting nations like China & Russia on board who as of late are making their own plans and are not interested in discussions with the rest of the Western and Asian nations. One would hope these kinds of concerns are on their minds as well since we as a species are attempting much of the same science and investigations despite our differences.

While this article doesn't go into the specifics - I think mainly because so far everyone has their own needs and ideas - thus the need for international agreement and cooperation. As Unclear Engineer alluded to, it will most likely be banned frequencies and even cessation of perhaps "unidirectional" EMF over certain locations. Tight beam laser communications would be ideal but I don't know how practical or cost-effective that will be.

No doubt in short order there will be networks of satellites orbiting the moon for communications and lunar positioning - the new LPS (vs GPS). Fortunately, unless there are massive quantities of super-rare resources on the far side of the moon, the majority of activity will be on the near-side for continuous communication with Earth.

 

[Classical Motion]

It would be interesting to see what reflections could be picked up on the far side from moon orbiting satellites. It might be noisy there now.

Who knows, if we could tie into the moon's electrostatic surface field, we might have a very sensitive natural transducer. If the noise from the earth side doesn't drown it out.