Breakthrough Listen has submitted a white paper on lunar opportunities for SETI to the National Academy of Sciences Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. The paper, led by Berkeley SETI undergraduate intern Eric Michaud, outlines the advantages of a radio telescope in lunar orbit, or on the surface of the lunar farside, for conducting technosignature searches. Shielded from the radio interference emanating from Earth, and able to detect radio frequencies that are inaccessible to Earth-based observatories due to our planet's ionosphere, a Moon-based telescope would be a powerful new tool in the arsenal of technosignature science.
The paper has also been submitted to the arXiv preprint server. A related paper was also submitted to the NASA Artemis III mission Science Definition Team. The concept, along with interviews with some of the paper's authors, is featured in an article published on supercluster.com. A video interview with Eric is available on YouTube, and accompanying artwork is available for download here.
Download the background art seen here (Credit: Breakthrough Listen / Danielle Futselaar):
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