Gravitational-Wave Lunar Observatory for Cosmology

Understand

Several large-scale experimental facilities and space-missions are being suggested to probe the universe across the gravitational-wave (GW) spectrum.

• Here we propose Gravitational-wave Lunar Observatory for Cosmology (GLOC) - the first concept design in the NASA Artemis era for a GW observatory on the Moon.
• Using feasible interferometer technologies, we find that a lunar-based observatory is ideal for probing GW frequencies in the range between deci-Hz to 5 Hz, an astrophysically rich regime that is very challenging for both Earth- and space-based detectors.
• GLOC can survey binaries with neutron stars, stellar and intermediate-mass black holes to $\gtrsim 70\%$ of the observable volume of our universe without significant background contamination.