Page 4 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Febrary/March 2020 Edition

4 Alien Hunters & the Dark Side of the Moon

Alien Hunters Need the

Far Side of the Moon to

Stay Quiet

The far side is normally protected

from all the radio noise
emanating from Earth, but SETI

researchers worry that new
visitors will gunk it up.

by Daniel Oberhaus

that at least some portions of the moon are spacecraft. Alternatively, missions could use
China made history earlier in 2019 when its
preserved for radio astronomy and the hunt for laser communications to avoid drowning out the
Chang'e-4 lander became the first spacecraft to
extraterrestrial intelligence. radio frequencies.
land on the far side of the moon. During the
Here on Earth, governments could Although each of these solutions
two-week lunar days, the lander and its small
create more radio quiet zones like the kind requires the spacecraft operator to act in good
rover, Yutu 2, beam images and other data to an
around the National Radio Astronomy faith, there is some precedent here. Behavior in
orbiter for relay back to Earth. Together they’ve
Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, but low Earth orbit is mostly governed by voluntary
furnished planetary scientists with
even then we might miss a message from ET. agreements based upon technical best practices
unprecedented access to the backside of our
The Earth’s atmosphere starts to block out radio and there’s no reason why this norms-based
Janus-faced neighbor. But not everyone was
frequencies as you move away from a relatively system couldn’t also be extended to the moon.
thrilled that China crossed into this new lunar
narrow frequency band called the “microwave But perhaps the best way to preserve the lunar
frontier, and few have been more vocal about
window,” so unless ET happens to be farside for radio astronomy is to go ahead and
their concerns than the scientists involved in the
transmitting on one of those frequencies we’d build an observatory there—which is exactly
search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
struggle to hear it. But the lunar atmosphere is what NASA is thinking about doing.
Last month, the SETI permanent
virtually nonexistent, which means radio Jack Burns is an astrophysicist at
committee of the International Astronautical
astronomers would have access to frequencies University of Colorado Boulder and has been
Association hosted its second round of
above and below Earth’s microwave window. pushing for a radio astronomy observatory on
negotiations about the lunar farside in
And, given the moon’s low gravity the lunar farside for decades. Unlike Maccone,
Washington, DC. The exploration of the moon
environment, astronomers would also be able to he’s not in the business of hunting for little green
might seem like an issue outside the purview of
build massive radio telescopes that dwarf those men. Instead, he wants to tap into the ultra low
this group of professional alien hunters, but the
found on Earth. frequency end of the radio spectrum that is
far side of the moon is the most radio quiet
After Heidmann’s death in 2000, blocked by Earth’s atmosphere, which would
place in the inner solar system and they want to
Maccone took up the cause of preserving the allow astronomers to study the formation of the
keep it that way in case ET calls. Indeed, they
lunar farside for radio astronomy. He has earliest stars and galaxies in the universe.
argue that the fate of the lunar farside may
written several papers on the subject and even Earlier this year, Burns and his
determine whether we ever detect a signal from
gave a presentation to the United Nations, but colleagues wrapped up a six-month study for
an extraterrestrial intelligence.
until recently his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. NASA that examined the feasibility of a small
“At the moment, SETI is not doomed,
The reason, Maccone says, is that the issue satellite mission to the moon. Known as the
but it might be doomed in the next 50 years and
lacked any urgency. Most national space Dark Ages Polarimetry Pathfinder or Dapper,
that’s being optimistic,” says Claudio Maccone,
agencies had neither the funding nor the will to this satellite would orbit the moon and look for
an astrophysicist and the chair of the IAA SETI
launch a mission to the far side of the moon and signals from the very early universe as it passed
committee. “We must insist on this topic while
billionaires were still struggling just to get a over the lunar farside.
there is still time to do something.”
rocket to orbit. If Dapper is selected by NASA for a
On Earth, radio astronomers must
But China’s historic landing on the lunar mission it would be the first small step toward
contend with interference from television
farside, NASA’s push for a moon base, and the making lunar farside radio astronomy a reality.
broadcasts, cell phone signals, satellites, and the
rise of private space companies with their sights “What we’re intending to do is break open this
atmosphere as they scan the cosmos for faint
set on other planets seems to have finally caught field for the first time,” Burns says. If Dapper
signals from primordial stars, organic
the radio astronomy community’s attention. In goes well, it would lay the foundation for an
molecules, or intelligent life. This makes the
addition to the two lunar farside negotiations even more ambitious mission known as Farside.
lunar farside an attractive site for future radio
organized by the IAA, the Royal Society is As detailed in a conceptual study Burns
telescopes because the moon blocks all the radio
hosting a two-day conference dedicated to the conducted for NASA, Farside would be a
signals from Earth. It’s like the difference
issue next year. bonafide radio observatory on the surface of the
between stargazing in New York City and
“In my personal view, I am most far side of the moon that consists of 128
stargazing in the middle of the desert—in the
concerned about the private companies,” antennas literally rolled out by robots.
city light pollution obscures almost all of the
Maccone says. “We talk about the far side For now, both of these missions are still
good stuff.
because we are scientists, but the private in the engineering design phase and there’s no
As a hedge against the unchecked
entrepreneurs are thinking about the far side and guarantee they’ll ever come to fruition. But if
proliferation of radio frequency interference, a
all of the moon in a very different sense. They NASA gives Burns and his colleagues the green
radio astronomer named Jean Heidmann made
would like to explore it as much as possible for light, they could both fly by the mid-2020s.
the case for a SETI radio base on the far side of
profit.” Burns is less pessimistic than Maccone
the moon back in the mid-’90s. Even before cell
There are several possible approaches to that the radio silence on the lunar farside will be
phones became common, Heidmann realized
keeping the lunar farside as quiet as possible totally shattered by future public and private
that radio interference could eventually become
short of an outright ban on communication with moonshots. But he also acknowledged that it
so bad that searching for aliens with radio
spacecraft. The most bothersome source of would be wise to start thinking about how we
telescopes would be impossible on Earth.
interference is unintentional radio noise from will manage the lunar radio spectrum sooner
Moving radio observatories to the moon
spacecraft electronics, which could be avoided rather than later. We don’t know what cosmic
wouldn’t require turning the entire lunar farside
by asking moon-bound missions to include mysteries await us on the lunar farside, but we’ll
into a radio quiet zone, but it would guarantee
strong electromagnetic shielding for their never find out without a little peace and quiet.[]