The most powerful radiotelescope yet devised is to be built on the Moon, under plans being put together by Nasa for its 2018 lunar mission.

Mike Griffin, the head of the US space agency, said the construction of a telescope is being “factored into” the mission.

It is intended to push forward the exploration of space and, eventually, help to identify how mankind can reach other planets in and outside the solar system.

A radiotelescope on the Moon would offer astronomers and physicists an unrivalled opportunity to see farther into the cosmos than ever before and in more detail.

Data collected from the installation would help scientists to understand the history of the cosmos and provide fresh clues to identifying the laws governing the Universe.

British astronauts could join the lunar missions in a partnership with Nasa, the Department of Trade and Industry revealed yesterday.

The move would be a departure from current policy in which Britain concentrates on space exploration by machine rather than manned missions.

It would also require a huge financial investment by Britain but in talks yesterday between Malcolm Wicks, the Minister for Science and Innovation, and Dr Griffin, the possibility was raised.

“It’s certainly not ruled out at this stage,” said a DTI spokeswoman. “It is something that was mentioned by Nasa. They would be on for us to have as big a role as we can play. It will be examined by officials and ministers.”

An agreement to hold joint missions to the Moon would end the requirement for Britons who join Nasa as astronauts to take US nationality.

The meeting comes less than a week after the British-born astronaut Piers Sellers urged the Government to finance manned missions into space.

Ian Morison, a radio astronomer at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, said that a radiotelescope on the Moon would eliminate the atmospheric and man-made interference with which ground-based installations must cope.

“The advantage is that it would totally eliminate Earth-based interference. There are windows of the radiation spectrum that we could observe from the Moon that at the moment we cannot (observe from Earth). It could be a wonderful place to have a radiotelescope.”

Nasa has already unveiled plans to return to the Moon, which was last visited by the Apollo missions of the late 1960s and 1970s.

Speaking yesterday about the prospect of Britain taking a leading role in the lunar missions, Mr Wicks said: “It’s exciting for us to discuss with Nasa the possibilities for UK involvement in lunar exploration.

“We will be considering whether there is an opportunity to build a partnership with the US. We want British businesses and scientists to benefit from this programme.”

Dr Griffin is convinced that Nasa’s concentration, since the six Apollo Moon landings, on the space shuttle programme and the International Space Station was a mistake, because they were limited to orbiting Earth rather than aiming beyond the home planet.

Eyes on space

In the 1970s Nasa and the European Space Agency began building the Hubble Space Telescope

Source: hubblesite.org and omni-optical.com

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