This suitcase-sized spacecraft could hear the universe before stars existed

CosmoCube will use the far side of the Moon as a shield from Earth’s radio noise to search for a faint signal from the universe before the first stars existed. The suitcase-sized satellite could reveal how the cosmic dark ages ended and how dark matter helped build the first galaxies. This suitcase-sized spacecraft could hear the universe before stars existed.

Developed in the UK, the spacecraft is called CosmoCube. An international research team led by the University of Cambridge plans to send it around the Moon, where the lunar far side can block radio interference coming from Earth. In that unusually quiet environment, CosmoCube will listen for an extraordinarily faint signal left behind by the early universe.

Listening for a Signal From Before the First Stars Scientists call this signal the 21 centimeter line. It comes from hydrogen atoms that existed during the period between the lingering afterglow of the Big Bang and Cosmic Dawn, when nuclear fusion switched on inside the first stars. No one has directly observed this chapter of cosmic history.