![]() Scientists focused on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, value the very same type of radio signals as those created by hydrogen's antics: the theory being that if even cosmic dullards like us can figure out the importance of that type of light, it's a good way to reach out to the universe. But with that darkness comes the possibility of enlightening data, not only about the time before stars formed, but also about the state of technology in the modern universe. "I think there's a fear on the part of scientists that everything's going to be exploited."ĭarkness - darkness in terms of light that humans can't see with their own eyes, even - may not seem like an obvious resource to exploit. "There's definitely a new sense of urgency and I think much more because of the growth and the potential of the commercial sector," she said. The burst of interest in the moon has scientists of all disciplines worried about potentially irreplaceable data encoded in and around the moon, Michelle Hanlon, a lawyer at the University of Mississippi School of Law specializing in outer space, told. The far side of the moon, as photographed by the crew of Apollo 16 in 1972. "If you don't really start agreeing on things now, there will be things that are going to the moon where the communications systems are essentially already designed." "It's really now that the conversation has to take place," Garrett said, pointing out that communications systems are set in stone long before launch. And although NASA's modern lunar dreams are still in the planning stages, the agency is energetically recruiting companies to come on board and pursue their own agendas at the moon.Īdditional time pressure comes from the slow pace of spaceflight engineering and the still slower one of writing regulations. This year was the first to see three different countries attempt to land on the moon China's was the only successful landing, setting down the Chang'e-4 mission on the far side. Specifically, astronomers realized that primordial hydrogen - the most interesting thing to see before star formation - emits a signal that, after an odyssey across most of the universe, is stretched into low-frequency radio waves.Īnd now, urgency is on the scene as well as curiosity, as scientists watch governments and private entities set their sights on the moon. ![]() "Now, that's changed." Scientists realized that long radio waves hold the secrets of what the universe was like before stars began to form. "It was a bit of a boring idea because no one knew what you would do with very low-frequency radio," Martin Elvis, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, told. ![]()
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