Low Frequency Antenna on the Moon

Low frequency antenna on the Moon gains increasing research attention in recent years. Because of the shield effect caused by the Earth's Ionosphere, electromagnetic wave ranging from 30MHz and below is very difficult to detect. Especially, radio wave below 5MHz cannot be received by earth-based antenna at all. It is proved that lunar surface, especially the surface of the Moon's far side, is a perfect region for low frequency radio observation. This paper presents advantages of low frequency astronomy observation with low frequency antenna installed on the lunar surface after comparing with observations using low frequency earth-based antenna. By investigating scientific and technical literature, this paper also presents research progresses of low frequency antenna on the Moon both domestic and abroad. It discusses in detail the lunar low frequency antenna designed by the Key Laboratory of the Moon and Deep Space Exploration of the National Astronomical Obersevatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The antenna array is modeled in CAD and simulated in HFSS. Simulation results show that the gain of the antenna array of the Cross Dipole is relatively high and the Cross Dipole array has the ability to detect the wave's direction. This paper then discusses the key techniques of designing lunar low frequency antennas. In order to meet requirements of the payload of a spacecraft-small, lightweight and foldable, this paper gives a "tape" design scheme of the Cross Dipole:the array element. Development trend of low frequency antenna on the Moon is introduced at the end of this paper.