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31-01-2022
Astrophysical Lunar Observatory (ALO)
| Submitter: | Albert-Jan Boonstra |
| Description: | Observing the astronomical radio window at frequencies below 30 MHz is difficult, and below 10 MHz impossible, due to the Earth's ionosphere and radio interference. Up to now a limited number of low-frequency radio missions have been flown, with only single antenna systems and limited bandwidth. Several interferometric radio antenna systems in space have been proposed, ranging from swarms of mini satellites and nano satellites, to lunar farside arrays. One of the lunar farside mission concepts is the Astrophysical Lunar Observatory (ALO), currently being studied in the context of the European Large Logistic Lander (EL3) project. ESA and the ALO topical science team conducted a Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) study in which the Dark Ages / Cosmic Dawn science case was used as a primary goal. Given this science case, the study defined the payload concept, deployment options, and operation constraints. The study assessed a concept ALO 4x4 element payload, lower right in the figure, that would fit in a single EL3 launch. This concept is aimed to be scalable to a larger size array, but an extrapolation to a full-size 128 x 128 array will require further technological developments. |
| Copyright: | ESA |
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