MOONRISE: The Main MOONS GTO Extragalactic Survey
  The MOONS instrument possesses an exceptional combination of large
multiplexing, high sensitivity, broad simultaneous spectral coverage (from
optical to near-infrared bands), large patrol area and high fibre density.
These properties provide the unprecedented potential of enabling, for the very
first time, SDSS-like surveys around Cosmic Noon (z~1-2.5), when the star
formation rate in the Universe peaked. The high-quality spectra delivered by
MOONS will sample the same nebular and stellar diagnostics observed in
extensive surveys of local galaxies, providing an accurate and consistent
description of the evolution of various physical properties of galaxies, and
hence a solid test of different scenarios of galaxy formation and
transformation. Most importantly, by spectroscopically identifying hundreds of
thousands of galaxies at high redshift, the MOONS surveys will be capable of
determining the environments in which primeval galaxies lived and will reveal
how such environments affected galaxy evolution. In this article, we
specifically focus on the main Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) MOONS
extragalactic survey, MOONRISE, by providing an overview of its scientific
goals and observing strategy.
