Technology developed by scientists to deploy telescopes to the dark side of the moon could be used to monitor breathing patterns of COVID patients or babies at risk of cot death.

These are just two applications of radio-frequency antennas that are being developed locally by a team from the University of Malta, the University of Oxford and the Osservatorio di Astrofisica di Catania.

The antennas form part of an international lunar project that will see thousands of telescopes installed on the moon in the next decade to provide information about the universe’s initial half-billion year. The information will shed light on the cosmic dark ages when stars and galaxies had yet to form.

While the antennas do their job in space, this same astronomy technology could be applied to everyday tasks on earth.

Kristian Zarb Adami, astrophysics professor at the Malta and Oxford universities, said the technique used to detect movement in the cosmic dawn could be adapted to monitor the movement of people’s chests.

“This could be useful in the diagnosis of COVID patients, to ensure that respirators are working properly and air is flowing through the lungs as it should,” he said. “It could also measure the movement of a baby’s chest while sleeping in the crib. Currently, such detection relies on sound and vision in some cases.”

Additionally, he suggested the technology could be used to measure the distance between people in crowded places and could, therefore, be applied to ensure social distancing.

Zarb Adami noted that such technology could help alert cyclists to obstacles ahead or behind them, such as approaching vehicles.

The antennas, which could be produced cheaply, could also be put to use in flooding alert systems or to replace the multiple antennas in mobile phones (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc), making phones cheaper and enhancing communication.

The team behind the antennas, which includes Zarb Adami, Iman O Farhat and Alessio Magro, is in the process of patenting this radar technology.

The antennas that are being designed in Malta and which will be fitted into telescopes that will deployed on the dark side of the moon.

Why the moon?

It is impossible to study the ‘dark ages’ from earth because of the interference of human-generated radio noise, light pollution and the planet’s own atmosphere.

Interference from communication devices is even present in the space orbiting the world, so researchers have decided to take their antennas to the darkest side of the moon. From there, they could eventually start building similar infrastructure on Mars.

The antennas could be loaded on lunar landers that will be dropped on the moon by rockets.

How do you travel back in time?

Light takes time to get from one place to another, so when you see light from very far away you’re seeing light from a very long time ago. The sun is a few minutes and the moon a few seconds away from us.

Depending on how far away you look through a telescope, you can look at a different time of the evolution of the universe.

The researchers are trying to look at what happened approximately 380 million years after the Big Bang, understanding how the different components of the universe came to be. They hope to put to rest one of astronomy’s biggest debates: what happened in the cosmic dawn? What caused the first stars to form?

First of its kind?

Attempts at detecting these changes started a decade ago, however, the signals are so small that you need to have lots of antennas and these are only now becoming affordable.

The Maltese are leading in the production of the antennas.

There is already a telescope on the dark side of the moon, put up by the Dutch and Chinese authorities. It landed last year and has only just started collecting data.

The international consortium of researchers is planning on deploying thousands of antennas.