NASA LCRT (Lunar Crater Radio Telescope) interest:

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) recently showed interest in LCRT. The proposal came due to concerns related to interference with other radio waves. LCRT will open new possibilities as well as way for new discoveries.

What NASA LCRT is?

NASA suggested turning one of the moon’s far side crater into a giant Radio Telescope. Hence, moon being a ‘lunar’ and a radio telescope on it, in one of its crater, gives it the name Lunar Crater Radio Telescope. The Ground-based telescopes constantly face radio interference from Earthly sources, technological and otherwise. Again, frequencies below 30 MHz are reflected away by our planet’s ionosphere. This causes loss of important information which is beneficial for extra-terrestrial studies.

Why are Radio Waves so important for NASA?

Radio waves travel through space. They are emitted by a wide range of extraterrestrial objects. Objects including planets, stars, supernova and the galactic center. They are the source of information, which can open new possibilities for the whole world.

LCRT on Moon why, TechNiche explains:

The lunar neighbour has a very thin atmosphere compared to earth. In numbers, to compare, at seat level 1 cubic centimeter of earth atmosphere contains 10^19 molecules. Whereas on the moon it drops to 10^6 molecules. Such a small number of molecules per cubic centimeter is considered a perfect vacuum here on earth.

Another comparison you can think of is a football ground. A football ground tightly filled with people, where no one has space to move a finger.  Same football ground with only one person. Now, that’s the density difference of earth’s atmosphere to that of moon’s.

The less-dense atmosphere will result in no loss to a radio wave. Creating LCRT on the far side of the moon has its own added advantage. The radio-waves emitted by the earth, will not interfere.