The largest in the history of single-aperture radio telescope "FAST" with a diameter of 500 meters was put into operation in the Middle Kingdom

The Chinese All-Seeing Eye is the so-called “FAST” single-aperture telescope (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, Five-meter spherical radio telescope), the last construction phase of which was completed on July 3, 2016. As recently as the day before yesterday, the last reflecting panel was mounted and the main construction phase of the telescope was successfully completed; the telescope from the Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico), 300 m in diameter, was removed from the top step of the rating. meters consists of 4450 individual plates.



As reported by the Xinhua News Agency "FAST" will be the most advanced research tool of Chinese astronomers. It will provide an opportunity to observe unusual space objects, study the birth and evolution of the Universe and even catch the signals of interstellar communication, expand the search for extraterrestrial civilizations at a qualitatively new level. Radio Telescope FAST, the construction of which "turnkey" cost $ 184 million, according to forecasts of Chinese experts, will remain a "global leader" for at least another couple of decades.



The construction phase of the world's largest radio telescope was preceded by more than 10 years of research. Construction began in March 2011.

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Hundreds of scientists, engineers and builders, deployed for this purpose to a temporary settlement in one of the remote mountain gorges of Pintan County, Qiannan-Bui-Miaosky Autonomous District of Guizhou Province (South-West China) took part in the implementation of the grandiose project.



However, as noted by Xinhua, the commissioning of the FAST telescope is only part of China’s large-scale space program, which also involves the construction of its own space station and a space telescope that exceeds the capabilities of the American Hubble telescope 300 times.



Already in September, 9,110 residents will be resettled to other provinces of the district from a radio telescope in a radius of 5 kilometers. They will have to sell their homes at a symbolic price and go to look for housing in another place. However, for the Celestial Empire such a practice of forced relocation with the issuance of penny compensation is a common occurrence. Since the 1970s, a total of at least 40,000,000 people were resettled as part of large-scale nationwide programs for the development of the country's infrastructure and the creation of additional jobs.



"FAST", of course, the most ambitious telescope project in the history of mankind. This is not just a telescope “for hunting aliens”. Referring to him in his interview with the South China Morning Post, Chinese astronomer Shi Ji Cheng said that this telescope can receive audible radio broadcasts at a distance of more than 1000 light years. In other words, if somewhere in the Universe there is an intelligent life, then we will be able not only to find it, but also to hear it. At the very least, record the radio signals sent by its representatives.



FAST will be able to bring the science of space exploration to an unprecedented new level, opening up many opportunities that are beyond the range of our current technologies. A researcher representing the Chinese Academy of Sciences explained:



“Being the most sensitive single-mirror telescope,“ FAST ”will be able to catch more distant sources of radio signals (masers) and most accurately calculate their radial (radial) velocity. This will allow much more accurate determination of the location of these sources and increase the accuracy of the temporal measurements of the emissions of pulsars. This, in turn, will help in the search for the stochastic background of gravitational waves and lead to the creation of a new independent time standard based on the long-term stability of the rotation of pulsars. In addition, FAST will also be able to operate as a very powerful ground support station for future space missions. ”



It will be appropriate to recall here that the NASA aerospace agency relatively recently discovered another exoplanet and, together with ESA, for the first time confirmed the existence of gravitational waves. Access to the possibilities of much more powerful and accurate radio telescopes in this regard will open up fundamentally new perspectives for the scientific community in their research.



Scientists will be able to start their first research already in September of this year.



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