STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State University's Angelle Tanner, a physics and astronomy faculty member, is part of a group of scientists planning on landing a new telescope on the moon in 2024. Tanner is collaborating with researchers from LSU, SETI Institute and Boston-based AstronetX PBC, a corporation dedicated to enabling frontier research from space. AstronetX received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for the work, which aims to launch a small lunar-based telescope camera, known as L-CAM1. Putting L-CAM1 on the moon is an initial step toward long-term scientific goals and serves as a technological demonstration that may lead to further development of lunar-based telescopes. The technology allows for the research to get away from Earth’s atmosphere and would improve the clarity of images. The planning phase has required intense calculation and consideration of detail that could impact the solar-powered instrument. The project’s main science objective is to study planets that orbit another star beyond our solar system. The camera's location will allow longer times for continuous observation because the lunar day and night cycle is much longer than that on Earth. (Source: MSU 01/18/22)
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