In the race to find alien life, China is clawing ahead. The country has just put the final piece into place to complete what till be the biggest radio telescope in the world.
The telescope will be used to explore space and help in the hunt for extraterrestrial life.
The Five-hundred-metre (0.31 miles) Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, is the size of 30 football fields and has been hewed out of a mountain in the southwestern province of Guizhou.
For comparison, the largest radio telescope in Europe is 100 metres (328 feet), a fifth of the size of FAST.
Scientists will now start debugging and performing trials on the telescope, Zheng Xiaonian, deputy head of the National Astronomical Observation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which built the telescope, told the official lXinhua News Agency.
The project has the potential to search for more strange objects to better understand the origin of the universe and boost the global hunt for extraterrestrial life,’ Zheng said, according to the report.
The 1.2-billion yuan ($180 million/£135 million) radio telescope would be a global leader for the next one to two decades, Zheng added.
The project has the potential to search for more strange objects to better understand the origin of the universe and boost the global hunt for extraterrestrial life,’ Zheng said, according to the report.
The 1.2-billion yuan ($180 million/£135 million) radio telescope would be a global leader for the next one to two decades, Zheng added.
FAST is built in the Dawodang depression in Guizhou Province.
The natural landscape provides the perfect size and shape for the construction of the telescope. The ground also provides enough support for the gigantic telescope.
The porous soil forms an underground drainage system that protects the telescope.
With only one town in the 12 miles (19km) radius, the Dawodang depression is extremely isolated from magnetic disruptions.
The remoteness of the location also protects the surrounding landscape from any damage.
Advancing China’s space programme is a priority for Beijing, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power.
China’s ambitions include putting a man on the moon by 2036 and building a space station, work on which has already begun.
China insists its programme is for peaceful purposes, but the US. Defense Department has highlighted China’s increasing space capabilities, saying it is pursuing activities aimed to prevent adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.
Daily Mail
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