MoonLITE: a CLPS-delivered NASA Astrophysics Pioneers lunar optical interferometer for sensitive, milliarcsecond observing

TL;DR

MoonLITE is a proposed lunar optical interferometer utilizing NASA's CLPS to achieve unprecedented sensitivity and resolution in space, enabling groundbreaking astrophysical observations from the lunar surface.

Contribution

It introduces the first separated-aperture optical interferometer on the Moon, leveraging CLPS for deployment, with capabilities surpassing ground and space-based systems in sensitivity and resolution.

Findings

Enables detection of 17th magnitude targets in visible light

Achieves 50 times better resolution than existing space systems

Provides new opportunities for astrophysical and fundamental physics research

Abstract

MoonLITE (Lunar InTerferometry Explorer) is an Astrophysics Pioneers proposal to develop, build, fly, and operate the first separated-aperture optical interferometer in space, delivering sub-mas science results. MoonLITE will leverage the Pioneers opportunity for utilizing NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) to deliver an optical interferometer to the lunar surface, enabling unprecedented discovery power by combining high spatial resolution from optical interferometry with deep sensitivity from the stability of the lunar surface. Following landing, the CLPS-provided rover will deploy the pre-loaded MoonLITE outboard optical telescope 100 meters from the lander's inboard telescope, establishing a two-element interferometric observatory with a single deployment. MoonLITE will observe targets as faint as 17th magnitude in the visible, exceeding ground-based interferometric sensitivity by many magnitudes, and surpassing space-based optical systems resolution by a factor of 50 times. The capabilities of MoonLITE open a unique discovery space that includes direct size measurements of the smallest, coolest stars and substellar brown dwarfs; searches for close-in stellar companions orbiting exoplanet-hosting stars that could confound our understanding and characterization of the frequency of Earth-like planets; direct size measurements of young stellar objects and characterization of the terrestrial planet-forming regions of these young stars; measurements of the inner regions and binary fraction of active galactic nuclei; and a probe of the very nature of spacetime foam itself. A portion of the observing time will also be made available to the broader community via a guest observer program. MoonLITE takes advantage of the CLPS opportunity and delivers an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and angular resolution at the remarkably affordable cost point of Pioneers.