Scientists hope to shed light on young universe by using far side of the moon
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- CosmoCube is a suitcase-sized satellite designed to orbit the moon's far side, where it will hunt for the 21cm line — a radio frequency signal emitted by neutral hydrogen atoms in the early universe — using the lunar body to block Earth-based interference.
- Lead author Prof Eloy de Lera Acedo of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory said the 21cm signal acts like a thermometer for gas temperature, letting researchers trace events from the 'dark ages' (~380,000 years after the big bang) through cosmic dawn to the end of the epoch of reionization (~1 billion years post-big bang).
- de Lera Acedo also noted the 21cm signal's amplitude and shape is influenced by dark matter, offering a potential probe into its nature alongside the early-universe temperature data.
- Earth-based attempts like the EDGES experiment in Australia have struggled against a weak signal, FM-radio and aviation interference, and ionospheric disturbances — and EDGES' claimed detection has since been questioned.
- The mission is estimated at just under £50m with a roughly five-year launch target and a two-year operational lifespan; it has already received more than £2m from the UK Space Agency, with results to be published in Nature Astronomy.
- Prof Phil Bull of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, who is not on the team, warned CosmoCube is not the only lunar mission chasing these measurements and that other planned lunar activity could introduce the exact human-generated radio noise the project is designed to escape — framing it as a 'race against time.'
Why it matters: The £50m, two-year CosmoCube mission hinges on a ~5-year launch window before the lunar far side becomes radio-polluted — Phil Bull's 'race against time' warning means other planned moon missions could compromise the radio-quiet environment before CosmoCube ever gets there, undercutting its core scientific premise.
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