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Lunar DIY Telescopes

Scientists working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have developed plans for giant telescope mirrors on the Moon using lunar dust.

The capabilities of a 50-meter telescope on the Moon stagger the imagination, according to NASA. With a stable platform, and no atmosphere to absorb or blur starlight, the monster scope could record the spectra of extra solar terrestrial planets and detect atmospheric biomarkers such as ozone and methane. Two or more such telescopes spanning the surface of the Moon can work together to take direct images of Earth-like planets around nearby stars and look for brightness variations that come from oceans and continents.

Lunar DIY Telescopes

Scientists working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have developed plans for giant telescope mirrors on the Moon using lunar dust.

The capabilities of a 50-meter telescope on the Moon stagger the imagination, according to NASA. With a stable platform, and no atmosphere to absorb or blur starlight, the monster scope could record the spectra of extra solar terrestrial planets and detect atmospheric biomarkers such as ozone and methane. Two or more such telescopes spanning the surface of the Moon can work together to take direct images of Earth-like planets around nearby stars and look for brightness variations that come from oceans and continents.