Brief
UK‑built CosmoCube aims to detect pre‑star cosmic signal from lunar far side
The Cambridge‑led team hopes the two‑year mission will gather about 1,000 hours of data on the universe’s first 150 million years of darkness.
By Felo News Desk · Published
A UK‑developed, suitcase‑sized satellite called CosmoCube is slated to orbit the Moon and listen for the faint 21 centimetre hydrogen line emitted during the universe’s dark ages, according to ScienceDaily.
The spacecraft will ride a lunar orbit that places it behind the Moon for roughly 40 minutes of each two‑hour cycle, shielding it from Earth‑based radio interference. Over an expected two‑year mission, researchers aim to collect around 1,000 hours of observations of the signal that originated more than 13.5 billion years ago.
CosmoCube is being built by an international team led by the University of Cambridge and is funded by the UK Space Agency. The team hopes the data will illuminate the period between the afterglow of the Big Bang and the emergence of the first stars, as well as provide insights into dark matter’s role in early cosmic structure formation. The project’s details have been published in Nature Astronomy, and the team targets a launch within the next five years.
Key facts
- CosmoCube is a suitcase‑sized satellite designed to detect the 21 cm hydrogen line from the universe’s dark ages. (sciencedaily.com)
- The mission will place the spacecraft in lunar orbit, using the Moon’s far side to block Earth‑based radio noise for about 40 minutes per two‑hour orbit. (sciencedaily.com)
- Researchers plan to gather roughly 1,000 hours of data over a two‑year mission. (sciencedaily.com)
- The project is led by the University of Cambridge and funded by the UK Space Agency, with a launch goal within five years. (sciencedaily.com)
Sources
- [1] sciencedaily.com — originally reported as “This suitcase-sized spacecraft could hear the universe before stars existed”
