BEIJING: China is set to probe the universe for alien life with a $169 million space telescope built on a mind-boggling scale and hidden in a valley in the country’s remote southwest.
A drone-mounted camera has offered the first glimpse of the awe-inspiring project, which will be the largest telescope in the world when complete at half-a-kilometer from end to end.
Flying above the enormous Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) dish, the footage shows the giant telescope ringed by a 1.6km perimeter which takes 40 minutes to walk around.
Tucked away in a bowl shaped valley between hills in China’s Guizhou province, the telescope has 4,450 triangular-shaped panels that make up the reflectors.
When completed it will be able to detect radio signals from planets up to one billion miles away.
“Having a more sensitive telescope, we can receive weaker and more distant radio messages,” it cited Wu Xiangping, director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society, as saying.
“It will help us to search for intelligent life outside of the galaxy and explore the origins of the universe.”
China began construction on the FAST last year and when completed will be the biggest such dish in the world, beating the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico by 200m.
However, FAST will have a number of advantages over its Puerto Rican predecessor. The FAST will be located in a remote part of China which means there will be less radio interference than at the Puerto Rican telescope.
The FAST will also be two-and-a-half times more sensitive the Arecibo Observatory allowing it to pick up 10cm to 4.3m radio waves across a larger area.
When completed by September next year the telescope will be able to detect new exoplanets, pulsars and galaxies and will help to better explain the evolution of the universe.
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