Detection of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos by a lunar nanosatellite-borne radio receiver

The feasibility of ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray and neutrino detection by a lunar nanosatellite-borne radio receiver is discussed. The estimated values of the energy threshold and event rate for cosmic ray detection are found to be E_th(CR) ≈ 10¹⁸ eV, N(CR, E ≥ 10¹⁹ eV) ≈ a few hundreds of events per day, and N(CR, E ≥ 10²⁰ eV) is more than thousand events per year. Cosmic -ray particle energy and arrival angles will be measured. Thus, the proposed experiment will have very high scientific potential in detection of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays comparable to that of the most ambitious proposals like EUSO and OWL, the cost being one or two orders of magnitude lower. Moreover, neutrinos with E > E_th(neutrino) ≈ 5\cdot 10¹⁸ eV can be also detected in the same experiment at the rate of a few to a few hundreds of events per year depending on the neutrino-source model. The basic design of the antenna system and concept of the registration channel are presented.