A test of a powerful new space imaging instrument has given us a new detailed view of the Apollo 15 Moon landing site.
By kicking a powerful radar signal off the surface of the moon, the new instrument has been able to achieve incredible resolution, showing objects as small as 5 meters (16.4 feet).
Designed for the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia by Raytheon Intelligence & Space, this proof-of-concept technology paves the way for even more powerful radar imaging in the future, enabling viewers to science to study objects even as far away as Neptune.
Radar images of the Moon are not a new idea, however. It is an extremely useful tool for exposing delicate structures on the surface and, at longer waves, even trying over 10 meters below the surface to see changes in the density of the regiment (here on Earth, this technology can help us find buried ruins).
But the Green Bank Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and Raytheon Intelligence & Space are trying to push the technology even further.
(Sophia Dagnello, NRAO / GBO / Raytheon / AUI / NSF / USGS)
In an experiment last November, the new transmitter sent a radar signal to the Moon, specifically targeting the Apollo 15 landing site – a small piece of the Moon, at a disk of 3,474.2 kilometers (2,158.8 miles) in diameter, hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.
This signal, when kicked back, was collected by the Very Long Baseline Array. This is a collection of radio telescopes across the US, basically coming together to create a continental-sized collection basin.
The image below is a result. That divot in the middle is a high crater called Hadley C, about 6 kilometers across. Passing by is the Hadley Rille, thought to have been a fallen lava pipe.
(NRAO / GBO / Raytheon / NSF / AUI)
Believe it or not, however, this is not even the second half of it. Now that they have successfully tested the idea, the team will be working on an even more powerful transmitter: a 500-kilowatt, high-power radar system that will allow them to see in even more incredible detail. .
This tool would be useful for all kinds of science. We could see our Moon closer, for sure. We could see the mountains of other planets. It could even be used to image passing by asteroids and space debris, which is too weak to see using optical telescopes, but that we can study using radar technology.
This could help us to better understand the population of objects – both natural and anthropogenic – in an area close to Earth, and may help to protect a planet against objects that may be dangerous.
“The proposed system will be a leap forward in radar science, providing access to features of the Solar System never seen before here on Earth,” said site director Karen. O’Neil from the Green Bank Observatory.
And if he gets us even more amazing pictures of the Moon, we are so for him.