China plans to place telescope in lunar orbit by 2026

During the Lunar Astronomy conference held in London, UK earlier this year, This China has said it plans to place telescopes in orbit around the Moon by 2026.. The information was confirmed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) astronomer Xuelei Chen.

The goal of the Chinese space agency to develop a telescope constellation in lunar orbit, where theoretically installing the equipment is much simpler. Dubbed Project Hongmeng, or “Exploring the Sky at Longest Wavelength,” the constellation is expected to be completed by mid-2026.

According to the space website, the constellation will function as a space radio telescope system, with a main satellite connecting to eight other mini-satellites. Small satellites are responsible for collecting radio signals in space, while the primary satellite must process the collected data and retransmit them to Earth..

In a hypothetical situation, if the CNSA decides to place a telescope on the surface of the Moon, it will be necessary to develop a large infrastructure on Earth. However, since the satellite network will orbit the natural satellite, scientists will not need to build any ground centers.

“There are a number of advantages to doing this in orbit rather than on the surface because it’s much simpler from an engineering point of view. There’s no need to land and deploy, and we can also use energy because the Moon’s orbital period is two hours. It’s much simpler to do this on the lunar surface,” Chen said. “If you want to observe it during the lunar night period, then you have to provide energy for almost 14 days,” he said.

China and the Moon Telescope

The scientists also explain that the lunar telescope will help monitor cosmic signals. in a particular region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This spectrum can also reveal more information about the Dark Ages, including, A period of the universe that occurred hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang.

The Chinese had already attempted to launch a constellation of satellites into lunar orbit in 2019 with the Longijang 1 and Longijang 2 microsatellites, but only one of them managed to stabilize in orbit.

“If you look at the low-frequency part of the electromagnetic spectrum, you’ll find that because of strong absorption. [pela atmosfera da Terra]we know very little about [a região] Below 30 megahertz. It’s an almost empty part of the electromagnetic spectrum. That’s why we want to unlock this last electromagnetic window of the universe,” said Chen.