UNB Researcher Is Designing a Radio Instrument to Map Space Weather at the Moon

A University of New Brunswick researcher is working on a tool that could give future Moon missions something they have never had: a reliable space weather picture of the Moon itself.

Giacomo Radaelli, a PhD candidate in geodesy and geomatics engineering at UNB in Fredericton, is developing the concept of a radio instrument that would orbit the Moon and map its ionosphere, according to a UNB Newsroom profile published Oct. 14.

A thin, charged layer around the Moon

The lunar ionosphere is a volatile, ghostly-thin layer of charged particles, formed mostly by dust lifted above the surface and ionized while it hangs there. Space weather in that layer can damage equipment and disrupt communications and instruments, and past missions had problems with lunar dust in suits, airlocks and instruments.

"We have a very poor understanding, poor characterization, and poor observation of the lunar ionosphere," Radaelli told UNB.

His proposed instrument would observe and characterize lunar plasma from orbit, mapping it with greater accuracy and reliability than current techniques. The data could feed new space weather models and help mission teams plan around it. "We want to know what happens and how it happens so that we can plan and adjust accordingly," he said.

The work builds on a concept first proposed by his co-supervisor, Dr. Chris Watson, a research scientist in UNB's Department of Physics. Watson's 2023 paper in Radio Science, Radio Instrument Package for Lunar Ionospheric Observation: A Concept Study, describes RIPLIO, a "crosslink" radio occultation mission in which spacecraft in lunar orbit send radio signals to each other through the ionosphere and measure how the signals change. Co-authors include UNB physicist P. T. Jayachandran and Radaelli's supervisor, Dr. Richard Langley. In 2025, Radaelli was lead author on a follow-up paper simulating those crosslink observations under different solar conditions.

From Milan and Toulouse to Fredericton

Radaelli grew up in Italy and earned a bachelor's degree in physics engineering at Politecnico di Milano, then a master's in aerospace systems for navigation and telecommunications at ENAC in Toulouse. As a master's student, he attended a talk by Langley, a physicist and expert in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Approaching Langley afterward led to an internship at UNB and then his doctorate.

"I was extremely happy to invite Giacomo to join the team of GNSS and ionosphere researchers at UNB," Langley said. "He has helped to expand our liaisons with ENAC and other research organizations in Europe including, of course, ESA."

In early 2026, Radaelli was selected for the European Space Agency Academy's Space Weather Training Course in Belgium. A Mitacs-funded exchange then took him to the University of Graz in Austria as a visiting researcher with atmospheric physicist Dr. Ulrich Foelsche, an expert in radio occultation. He also attended a radio occultation conference in Austria organized by Foelsche and the COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Florence in August, and he is now discussing applications of the instrument beyond the Moon, toward Mars.

"It's extremely gratifying to see that even at an early stage, Giacomo's research is getting noticed on the global stage," Langley said, adding that with new Moon and Mars missions planned, he hopes more UNB students get involved in space research.

The profile is part of UNB's Space Happens Here series. For more UNB research, see UNB's ten patents in 2025–26.

Sources

• Space happens here: The doctoral student developing a space weather observation system to study a mysterious layer of the Moon — UNB Newsroom (Oct. 14, 2026): Radaelli's program, instrument concept, quotes, education, ESA Academy course, Graz/Mitacs exchange, COSPAR, Mars applications; Watson as co-supervisor; Langley quotes
• Watson et al., Radio Instrument Package for Lunar Ionospheric Observation: A Concept Study, Radio Science (2023): RIPLIO crosslink radio occultation concept; UNB Physics and Geodesy and Geomatics co-authors
• Radaelli et al., Simulation of Crosslink Radio Occultation Observations of the Lunar Ionosphere (URSI AP-RASC 2025): follow-up simulations under solar wind and magnetosphere conditions
• Richard Langley — UNB profile: professor, Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering
• Chris Watson — UNB profile: research scientist, Physics
• Giacomo Radaelli — LinkedIn: PhD student at UNB researching the lunar ionosphere