CosmoCube and PRATUSH: Exploring the Early Universe from the Moon

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Key takeaways

The CosmoCube satellite will orbit the moon every 2 hours and spend 40 minutes on the lunar far side to detect early cosmic signals.
The 21-cm signal originates from neutral hydrogen during the Cosmic Dark Ages, which lasted from 380,000 to ~200 million years after the Big Bang.
CosmoCube carries a sensitive radiometer operating between 10 MHz and 100 MHz to capture shifted low-frequency radio waves.
India is developing its own lunar radio astronomy mission named PRATUSH, led by the Raman Research Institute and ISRO using a compact Single-Board Computer.

A study in Nature Astronomy recently detailed a proposed lunar satellite mission named CosmoCube.
Scientists from the Royal Astronomical Society and the University of Cambridge are leading this project to reach lunar orbit by 2030.
The mission aims to capture an elusive 21-cm radio signal emitted during the earliest phase of the universe.
India is also targeting this same cosmic signal through its own proposed space mission called PRATUSH.

CosmoCube is a compact satellite built to operate for 2 years while orbiting the moon.
The satellite completes one full lunar orbit every 2 hours and spends 40 minutes shielded on the lunar far side.
Its main target is to detect extremely faint radio waves released by neutral hydrogen during the Cosmic Dark Ages.
It carries a sensitive low-frequency radiometer that operates across the 10-100 MHz range.
This onboard instrument splits incoming radio waves into multiple channels to identify the unique fingerprint of early hydrogen.
To keep its own electronics from interfering with data collection, CosmoCube remains completely radio-silent while behind the moon.
The satellite saves all recorded measurements and streams them back to Earth only when it orbits to the Earth-facing side.
The far side of the moon offers an ideal radio-quiet environment because the lunar mass blocks Earth's telecom signals and ionospheric noise.
Measuring this 21-cm signal provides a cosmic thermometer that helps scientists pinpoint when the first stars and galaxies formed.
The strength and shape of the hydrogen signal will help researchers study the elusive properties of dark matter.
Data from CosmoCube could also help resolve the Hubble Tension, which is a conflict in measurements of how fast the universe expands.

The Cosmic Dark Ages lasted from 380,000 years to 200 million years after the Big Bang.
During this dark era, neutral hydrogen gas filled the universe before any stars or galaxies had formed to emit visible light.
This pitch-black phase preceded the Cosmic Dawn and the subsequent Epoch of Reionisation.
Neutral hydrogen atoms occasionally undergo a quantum process called a spin-flip transition, which emits electromagnetic waves at a 21-cm wavelength.
As the universe expanded over billions of years, these ancient waves stretched out into the lower-frequency radio spectrum seen today.
Detecting this signal is very difficult because background radiation from the Milky Way galaxy is thousands of times stronger than the signal itself.

PRATUSH stands for Probing ReionizATion of the Universe using Signal from Hydrogen.
The Raman Research Institute in Bengaluru is developing this indigenous radio astronomy mission alongside ISRO.
Like CosmoCube, PRATUSH will orbit the moon to record the redshifted 21-cm signal from the universe's early eras.
Engineers built a credit-card-sized Single-Board Computer to meet strict size, weight, and power limits on the spacecraft.
This compact computer acts as the main controller that coordinates the antenna, receiver, and a high-speed FPGA chip.
This project places India among the global leaders in space cosmology by using the radio-quiet environment of the moon.