The search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations is severely hampered by radio waves emitted by Earth-based equipment. That is why scientists believe that the best place to listen to the universe is the far side of the Moon.
Chang’e-4 Mission. Source: phys.org
Noise pollution on Earth
Our Wi-Fi router prevents us from hearing aliens. This is no joke. For 60 years now, humanity has been trying to pick up signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. However, every time, scientists have to cut through the cacophony of radio waves generated by our own civilization. Simply because they are far more powerful than a message sent from dozens of light-years away.
Over the years, scientists have become quite skilled at filtering out the irrelevant. However, they still dream of a place free of artificial signals. And such a place actually exists. The astronauts on the Artemis II mission have recently experienced just how quiet it really is out there.
Of course, we’re talking about the far side of the Moon, which always faces away from Earth. It really creates the conditions for shielding all signals from Earth. And that is exactly where scientists want to build powerful radio telescopes.
Chang’e-4 Mission
The idea of building radio telescopes on the far side of the Moon has been around for decades. However, until recently, none of these proposals were based on any practical research. However, a few years ago, a man-made spacecraft—the Chinese Chang’e-4 mission—became the first to land on the far side of the Moon.
Actually, this spacecraft was designed for a completely different purpose—to collect data and samples from the Moon’s surface and bring them back to Earth. But since it was there anyway and had an antenna, the scientists decided to conduct an experiment to see what could be heard on the far side of the Moon.
And now, finally, studies analyzing all this data have been published. And the result? Nothing. No signals from aliens. However, the scientists are very pleased with this achievement. And, after all, no signals from Earth were detected either.
There really is complete silence on the far side of the Moon. And that’s why it’s actually a better place to build a radio telescope to communicate with aliens. The fact that we haven’t heard anything yet doesn’t matter. Therefore, the absence of evidence is not, in fact, evidence of absence.
According to phys.org