In China, the construction of a radio telescope with a diameter of 120 meters has begun, which will become the world’s largest completely controlled device of this type. About this the Academy of Sciences of China.
The main goal of the project is to deepen knowledge about planets and asteroids. The telescope will receive electromagnetic waves from celestial bodies and send its own signals into space, which will more accurately measure the distances between the Earth and other objects of the solar system.
Radio telescopes with similar functions earlier than included the Obesibo Observatory in Puerto Rica (now does not function), as well as NASA objects, such as a complex of deep-cosmic communication in Goldstone and the VLA massif in New Mexico.
For the new Chinese telescope, a place was chosen in the city of Huadian Girin Province in the northeast of China. The site was determined in May, since then preparatory work has been underway. Part of the foundation is already ready, and the completion of the installation, setup and testing of the telescope is scheduled for 2028.
This date coincides with the completion of another large -scale project – the Square Kilometer Array (SKAO) observatory. Currently, part of its elements has already been commissioned, but the completion of construction is expected no earlier than 2028-2029.
Although the telescope in the Girin province will be one of the largest single devices, SKAO is an ensemble of more than 130 thousand antennas in Australia and about 200 in South Africa. The total area of reception devices is one square kilometer, which is reflected in the name of the observatory.
The Chinese telescope will become an addition to existing scientific objects, such as Fast radio telescope with a diameter of 500 meters. Although FAST significantly exceeds the size of the new telescope, its design is fixed, which limits the capabilities of control. Fast was completed in 2016, but began full work only in 2020 after the extensive period of testing and calibration.
In addition, in China, smaller fully controlled radio telescopes are built. Among them are objects in the Chanbayshan region, the city of Sidabet in Tibet and the Kitai area in the Xinjiang -Uygur Autonomous Region.