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29-06-2016
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Dutch radio antenna to depart for the moon on Chinese mission

Submitter: Roy van der Werp
Description: Researchers at ASTRON, Radboud University and the Delft company Innovative Solutions in Space (ISIS) are to develop a new instrument that will be onboard the Chinese Chang'e4 satellite that will be placed in an orbit behind the moon in 2018.

Yesterday, in Beijing, The Netherlands Space Office (NSO) and the Chinese national space agency CNSA signed a partnership agreement on a mission to the moon, made possible by the organisation's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2015. The radio antenna is the first Dutch-made scientific instrument to be sent on a Chinese space mission, and it will open up a new chapter in radio astronomy. “This instrument will help us find answers to vital questions concerning the origin of the universe,” said Gert Kruithof from ASTRON, “and this project will represent a new milestone in astronomy.”

Long-term partnership
Radboud University astronomers Heino Falcke and Marc Klein Wolt are the scientific advisors for the project and have spent years working towards taking this important step. “The instrument we are developing will be a precursor to a future radio telescope in space.” said Klein Wolt, director of the Radboud Radio Lab. “We will ultimately need such a facility to map the early universe and to provide information on the development of the earliest structures in it, like stars and galaxies.”

Albert-Jan Boonstra, programme manager at ASTRON, explained: “Our years of experience in the construction of the Westerbork radio observatory, the Low Frequency Array LOFAR and the development of the Square Kilometre Array will be put to use in the construction of this new instrument.” Experts in innovative satellite systems engineering from ISIS will be responsible for the system integration of the instrument, and its accommodation on the Chang'e4 satellite.

Image: The satellite rotates around a fixed point behind the moon – the second Lagrange, or L2, point in the Earth-moon system. This point is located 65 000 kilometres from the moon.
Copyright: ASTRON/ISIS/Radboud University/NSO
 
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