Communications via the Moon

[scicop]

As a Ham Radio Operator, I have always fancied the idea of a "repeater" being placed on the surface of the moon. The advantage, the way I think about it, is that you would have a "satellite" in the sky with a long "window" duration for communications with nearly half the globe "visible" at any given time.

 

Sure, it won't always be in the sky, but the moon would sure be a good base for relay stations that would facilitate communications around the world. You wouldn't need to relay between LEO satelites (limited by their altitidute and duration of window exposure..we usually only have a 10 to 15 minute window with these things every hour or so).

 

Radio communications is relatively rapid, Hams do moon-bounce communications (they bounce their signals off the moon) and the delay is only about a second. And they've done it with rather simplistic antennas and power (although most use massive arrays).

 

What do you all think about this?? We can put probes on Mars...why not put "repeaters" on the moon??

 

(this is just for discussion purposes..fantasy if you will).

[Sisyphus]

I'm not sure what the advantage would be that orbitting and geostationary satellites wouldn't provide.

[[Tycho?]]

I'm not sure what the advantage would be that orbitting and geostationary satellites wouldn't provide.

 

Yeah. There are already a ton of satellites that do exactly the same thing.

[insane_alien]

geosationary satelites are visible ALL the time and a network of 3 can see the entire globe.

[swansont]

Radio communications is relatively rapid, Hams do moon-bounce communications (they bounce their signals off the moon) and the delay is only about a second.

 

About two-and-a-half, round trip. Geostationary satellites, already mentioned, are more convenient.

[mooeypoo]

I actually thought about the same thing, but not with earth-communication (Geosynchroneous satellites do the job quite well with communications) but to put a radio telescope on the far end of the moon (the "dark side" of the moon), so that we can view the solar system and the universe with virtually no distraction from atmosphere.

 

Surely scientists thought about it, though.. no?

 

~moo

[Sisyphus]

Well, what would be the advantage of THAT over an orbitting telescope?

 

Does seem a shame not to use such a big moon for something, though, doesn't? Maybe eventually power generation? Huge solar or thermoelectric arrays, and electricity beamed via laser and collectors on Earth? I guess you'd need self-replicating and self-maintaining machines for that to be practical...

[YT2095]

as Ham Radio "Pirate" I can actualy see the atraction for a stationary repeater or even a reflector on the Moon, something that no-one has Direct control over.

in effect pitting your skills to acheive a good DX QSO using Nature rather than something mankind (.Gov) has a say in.

there IS a certain undeniable appeal to this, and certainly nothing beats a good "Home-Brew" setup/rig that can accomplish such a feat to QSL.

 

I think it`s a fantastic idea

[insane_alien]

the advantage of a radio telescope on the far side of the moon is that you don't accidentally pick up stary earth origined signals, say YT chatting up somebody over the airwaves. its the same problem as light pollution for optical telescopes

[[Tycho?]]

Well' date=' what would be the advantage of THAT over an orbitting telescope?

 

Does seem a shame not to use such a big moon for something, though, doesn't? Maybe eventually power generation? Huge solar or thermoelectric arrays, and electricity beamed via laser and collectors on Earth? I guess you'd need self-replicating and self-maintaining machines for that to be practical...[/quote']

 

The dark side of the moon is free from any radio chatter from earth.

[swansont]

'']The dark side of the moon is free from any radio chatter from earth.

 

No, it's not (half the time, anyway) but the side opposite the earth would be.

[bascule]

You can use the moon as a passive reflector with a form of weak signal communication known as Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) or "moonbounce"... good for CW

[YT2095]

IIRC, they already have Laser reflectors up there for scientific purposes, although I would imagine you`de need at least a Watt (or even more) to get a bounce off it, and even then your buddy would need the coresponding RXer equipment.

and probably FAA permission too!

[Rajdilawar S]

YA it is Good idea but I dont know how sound is it technically? Actually dark side of moon could be use for Radioscopic purpose as no or least Radio disturbance and one can get exact Data. But one should also take care of Sun-Stroms and alpha Rays explosions( Which are taking place every seceond in star nurseries), which could creat deflections too.

[Klaynos]

IIRC' date=' they already have Laser reflectors up there for scientific purposes, although I would imagine you`de need at least a Watt (or even more) to get a bounce off it, and even then your buddy would need the coresponding RXer equipment.

and probably FAA permission too![/quote']

 

The first moon landing put down a retroreflector, that with the use of a basic telescope and not a massively powerfull laser you can reflect off of and detect the reflected signal. A definitive proof that the landing happened. I'm told that the kit is basic enough so that a home scope and laser pointer would work...

[[Tycho?]]

No, it's not (half the time, anyway) but the side opposite the earth would be.

 

The side opposite of earth is called the dark side of the moon. Wikipedia says:

 

It is also sometimes, inaccurately, called the "dark side of the Moon"; dark being used in the sense of 'unknown' rather than 'lacking light', since both the near and far sides receive almost equal amounts of light from the Sun.