CosmoCube mission presented at NAM ‘25

CosmoCube is a UK-led mission designed to probe the universe’s “Dark Ages” from the unique vantage of lunar orbit. After the Big Bang, before stars and galaxies had formed, the universe was dark and almost featureless—yet its faint hydrogen signal holds the key to understanding cosmic dawn, the growth of structure, and the nature of dark matter. Detecting this signal is impossible from Earth because of radio interference, but CosmoCube will overcome this by operating a precision-calibrated low-frequency radiometer from the far side of the Moon, naturally shielded from terrestrial noise.

The project was presented at the National Astronomy Meeting 2025 (NAM 2025) and featured in a press release by the Royal Astronomical Society, underlining its significance in advancing radio cosmology. Led by the University of Cambridge with partners including University of Portsmouth, STFC RAL Space, and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, CosmoCube is currently in prototyping and environmental testing, with a roadmap targeting lunar orbit deployment later this decade.