LuSEE-Night, a groundbreaking radio telescope, is set to launch to the moon’s far side in early 2026 with the mission of unlocking signals from the cosmic dark ages, a period occurring 200-400 million years after the big bang. This initiative, which has been in the making for over 40 years, aims to pave the way for future lunar-based radio astronomy advancements.
The LuSEE-Night instrument is designed to detect faint radio emissions from neutral hydrogen at frequencies below 50 MHz. Such signals are typically blocked by Earth’s ionosphere and often obscured by terrestrial radio interference. The moon’s far side provides an ideal location due to the natural shielding it offers from Earth’s radio noise and the solar wind, particularly during the two-week lunar night.
Equipped with two 6-meter dipole antennas mounted on a turntable, the telescope is capable of sampling 102.4 million times per second, allowing it to identify signals five to six orders of magnitude weaker than background noise. Addressing challenges such as extreme temperature swings—ranging from -130°C to 120°C—the mission utilizes a 38kg battery pack to maintain thermal stability during the lengthy lunar nights.
The success of LuSEE-Night could serve as a precursor to more ambitious projects like the FarView Observatory, a proposed array of 100,000 antennas that would cover 200 square kilometers of the lunar surface, further enhancing our understanding of deep-space radio phenomena.

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LuSEE-Night is a radio telescope launching to the moon's far side in early 2026 to detect faint radio emissions from the cosmic dark ages (200-400 million years post-big bang). The instrument features two 6-meter dipole antennas sampling at 102.4 million times per second, capable of identifying signals five to six orders of magnitude weaker than background noise. The lunar far side provides natural shielding from Earth's radio interference and ionospheric blocking of sub-50 MHz frequencies. The mission addresses extreme temperature challenges (-130°C to 120°C) with a 38kg battery pack and could pave the way for the FarView Observatory, a proposed 100,000-antenna array covering 200 square kilometers.

LuSEE-Night: Pioneering Radio Astronomy from the Moon's Far Side