Africa2Moon: Rhodes University leads continent’s first lunar mission
· Citizen
African scientists are set to make history with Africa2Moon – the continent’s first space exploration mission – which will place radio antennas on the lunar surface, opening a long‑shut window on the universe and marking Rhodes University’s leap from Earth to the moon.
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The instrument, known as Africa2Moon, is the first all-African space exploration mission, and Rhodes University’s Distinguished Professor Oleg Smirnov is the principal investigator for the mission’s radio astronomy.
To the moon
Selected in 2025 to fly aboard China’s Chang’e-8 mission to the lunar south pole, scheduled for 2029, Africa2Moon aims to become the first radio interferometer to operate on the lunar surface.
“Africa2Moon has always been about more than a single instrument on the moon. It is proof that African scientists and engineers can imagine something audacious and then build it together,” said Dr Adriana Marais, lead author, director of the Foundation for Space Development Africa and head of science for the mission.
“We are opening a window on the universe that few have been able to look through before, and we are doing it from Africa, for the world.”
Africa2Moon Bounced African Low Lunar Spheres (BALLS) antenna element.Left: a computer-generated simplified representation of one of the BALLS, including three concentric orthogonal loop antennas, eight solar panels and a contained electronics box. Centre and right: the structural and electrical functional test models. Picture: Rhodes University
Radio astronomy
For more than a century, radio astronomy has transformed our view of the universe, but the lowest‑frequency radio waves – below 20MHz – remain hidden by Earth’s atmosphere.
The moon offers the breakthrough: with no atmosphere and shielding from radio noise on its far side, it is the quietest place to finally open this unexplored frontier.
“The lowest‑frequency radio sky is one of the last unexplored frontiers in astronomy, and you cannot see it from the ground. To reach it, you can go to space, and what better place than the moon? This is Rhodes University and African radio astronomy, stepping off the planet,” Smirnov said.
Africa2Moon
The Africa2Moon mission will test rolling antenna spheres – known as BALLS – designed to spread across the lunar surface and work together as a single telescope.
The demonstrator, three lightweight spheres selected to fly on China’s Chang’e‑8 mission, will listen to signals from Earth, the sun, the galaxy, and even search for technosignatures.
Full mission
Smirnov’s Rhodes University team, with expertise honed on MeerKAT and the Square Kilometre Array, will lead the radio astronomy work.
“Africa2Moon shows what becomes possible through collaboration, which is not only taking African technology to the moon, but empowering Africa’s youth to see that they too can shape a collaborative and resilient future for our continent,” mission director Dr Carla Sharpe Mitchell said.
The full mission aims to deploy 55 antennas on the far side of the moon – one for each African nation – combining cutting‑edge science with training and capacity‑building across the continent.