Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research (LUNAR)
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The Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research (LUNAR) team
is part of the NASA Lunar Science Institute. LUNAR is lead by team
leader Prof. Jack Burns, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences,
University of Colorado (CU) in Boulder. The LUNAR team is interested in
science that can be conducted from the moon. We have four projects. The
first project is low frequency astrophysics and cosmology using a large
radio array on the far side of the moon. The second project is a
small radio array on the near side of the moon that would be used to
study heliophysics radio emission (mainly solar and from the solar wind)
and to act as a precursor to the larger far side array. I lead the radio
heliophysics key project with my colleague Dr. Robert MacDowall (GSFC). The
third project is lunar laser ranging. Our final project is to identify
any other compelling science that could be performed using the moon
as a platform.
You can learn more about the LUNAR team by reading our web site
here
. To
learn more about the NASA Lunar Science Institute visit the NLSI web
site here.
Members of the LUNAR radio heliophysics key project at SAO include
Justin Kasper,
Lincoln Greenhill,
Jonathan Weintroub,
and Peter Cheimets.
Other members of the team are
Robert MacDowall (NASA/GSFC),
Stuart Bale (UC Berkeley),
Tim Bastian (NRAO), and
John Grunsfeld (NASA/JSC). We are also working closely with Joseph Lazio (NRL), Jackie
Hewitt (MIT), and Chris Carilli (NRAO), who are working on the LUNAR
low frequency astrophysics and cosmology key project.
Our goal over the four year period of the LUNAR project is to
refine the design of a lunar solar radio telescope that could be
deployed on the near side of the moon by astronauts on a
sortie mission or by a robot. Our current design is
called the Radio Observatory for Lunar Sortie Science (ROLSS). We
are improving this design by analyzing existing low
frequency radio observations to quantify the solar, lunar, terrestrial,
and transient sources of radiation at these frequencies. We are
also working on the antenna design, simulations of the response of the
instrument to the Sun and the low frequency sky, and on methods
for deploying antennas on the lunar surface.
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The science, destruction, and beauty of the solar storm that's been blasting earth - from the breathtaking Aurora Borealis to future exploration of the sun itself. I was a guest for a one hour episode of WBUR talk show On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Stream the show and read background material on the Sun
here.
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