FarView A Lunar Far Side Radio Observatory

FarView is a low frequency (5-40 MHz) radio telescope array comprised of 100,000 dipole antennas that is enabled by the manufacture of these dipoles on the lunar surface. FarView’s primary science is to probe the unexplored Dark Ages (before the first stars form, when the Universe was filled with newly-formed neutral hydrogen) through the Cosmic Dawn (after first stars, galaxies, and accreting black holes form), through to the ionized intergalactic medium we see today. FarView achieves this by utilizing the lunar far side to shield it from the Earth’s natural and anthropomorphic radio interference that prohibit these observations from being made on Earth.

Graphic showing the Big Bang from the Cosmic Microwave Background through the Cosmic dawn and galaxy formation. Illustrations JWST and Hubble's detection limits

FarView interferometric measurements of 3-D fluctuations in the 21-cm Dark Ages signal will test the standard cosmological model at the onset of structure formation.

Departures from well-constrained predictions will provide new insights on the physics of structure formation, including dark matter, early dark energy, inflation, or any exotic physics, leading to exquisite constraints on cosmological models. Read more about FarView from a presentation at the Unique Science from the Moon in the Artemis Era workshop held at NASA KSC in June 2022.

UPDATE FROM APRIL 2023: Read the NIAC press release announcing the selection for a Phase II award for the FarView project.