The MegaWave Radio Surveyor

[astro-ph.IM] Several Decadal-level questions in astrophysics, exoplanets, astrobiology, and cosmology can be addressed only at low radio frequencies inaccessible from Earth.

The MegaWave Radio Surveyor would open this largely-unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum with a space-based interferometer to (1)~Track the space weather of other stars; (2)~Detect magnetically-generated emission from exoplanets to probe their interiors and assess magnetic shielding of their atmospheres; (3)~Probe the Universe’s evolution during the Dark Ages via the highly-redshifted HI hyperfine line; and (4)~Assess the role of cosmic rays and magnetic fields in the cosmic web.

An Astrophysics Strategic Technology & Research Accelerator (ASTRA) Initiative concept, the MegaWave Radio Surveyor’s science objectives respond to the Pathways to Discovery Decadal Survey and three other National Academies studies, and it would serve as a Formative Era mission in the Enduring Quests, Daring Visions roadmap.

Developments in U.S. space industries enable this observatory to be realized. The MegaWave Radio Surveyor would offer a versatile, scalable, and resilient architecture capable of sensitive and simultaneous observations below 45~MHz and unprecedented angular resolution at these frequencies. The concept builds upon NASA’s Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS), and Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE-Night).

The MegaWave Radio Surveyor could leverage multiple elements of the Artemis program, such as access to and beyond cislunar space and communications, and there are opportunities to infuse new autonomy/AI modes for mission operations.

By opening one of the last windows in the electromagnetic spectrum and pioneering space interferometry at unprecedented scales, the MegaWave Radio Surveyor would establish a transformational capability.

Magnetic fields probe planetary interior compositions and dynamics, but the small number of magnetized Solar System planets limit our understanding of dynamo processes and the extent to which Solar System planets are typical or outliers. By detecting the magnetically-generated radio emission from exoplanets in the solar neighborhood, the MegaWave Radio Surveyor would improve our understanding of the interior structures of exoplanets and provide key information about the extent to which magnetic fields shield their atmospheres from particle erosion. (Adapted from K. M. Soderlund et al. 2025.) — [astro-ph.IM]

T. Joseph W. Lazio (Michigan), Evgenya Shkolnik (ASU), James Aguirre (Pennsylvania), Stuart D. Bale (UC Berkeley), Judd Bowman (ASU), Ruby Byrne (Caltech), Joseph Callingham (ASTRON), Tracy E. Clarke (NRL), Ivey Davis (ASTRON), Tim Dolch (UNM), Peter Driscoll (Carnegie Science), Anastasia Fialkov (Cambridge), Steven Furlanetto (UCLA), Simona Giacintucci (NRL), Ravit Helled (Univ. Zurich), Jacqueline Hewitt (MIT), Phil Hopkins (Caltech), Andrea Isella (Rice), Daniel Jacobs (ASU), Eloy de Lera Acedo (Cambridge), Melodie M. Kao (Lowell Observatory), Mary Knapp (MIT/Haystack Observatory), L.V.E. Koopmans (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute), Nicholas Kern (Michigan), Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway (Eindhoven University of Technology), Susan T. Lepri (Michigan), R. O. Parke Loyd (Eureka Scientific), James P. Lux (JPL, Caltech), James P. Mason (APL/JHU), Raul Monsalve (Universidad Andrés Bello), Miguel Morales (Univ. Washington), Julian B. Muñoz (UT Austin), Rachel Osten (Johns Hopkins, STScI), J. Sebastian Pineda (CU Boulder), Jonathan Pober (Brown), Sam B. Ponnada (Chalmers), Leslie A. Rogers (Chicago), Saurabh Singh (Raman Research Institute), Jake D. Turner (Cornell), Jackie Villadsen (Bucknell), Philippe Zarka (Observatoire de Paris), John ZuHorne (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), Ellen Zweibel (Univ. Wisconsin, Madison)

Comments: 20 pages, 8 figures; expanded NASA ASTRA concept description to provide a broader view of the science case; to be submitted to the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society (BAAS); abstract abridged; acknowledgements updated
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:2608.26322 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2608.26322v2 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.26322
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Submission history
From: Joseph Lazio
[v1] Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:55:06 UTC (9,728 KB)
[v2] Fri, 28 Aug 2026 04:43:36 UTC (9,728 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.26322

Astrobiology