China puts finishing touches on World's biggest radio telescope

China is the next scientific state after the United States and Europe, where the work is unique in astronomy

China has given the finishing touches on the biggest radio telescope in the world. The telescope’s 1,650-foot-wide dish is going to scan the universe for clues of intelligent alien life, and numerous other tasks.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that technicians installed the last of the 4,450 panels on Sunday July 3, creating the giant dish of Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope's (FAST).

Xinhua reported that soon, the members of project team will start testing and debugging FAST, following which Chinese scientists are going to use it for ‘early-stage research’. But, astronomers worldwide will get access to the instrument after the completion of that phase, probably after a couple of years from now

FAST has a dish with size of 30 football fields, making it by far the biggest single-aperture telescope worldwide (however arrays associating multiple radio dishes cover more ground). The previous record holder in the field was the 1,000-foot-wide (300 meters) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico

FAST has been created in China's Guizhou Province, over 1,240 miles southwest of Beijing. Project officials said that the 1.2-billion-yuan facility would aid scientists get more information regarding the early days of the universe, low-frequency gravitational waves detection and look out for signals that could have been produced by remote alien civilizations

As per Xinhua report, FAST Project chief scientist Nan Rendong said, “As the world's largest single-aperture telescope located at an extremely radio-quiet site, its scientific impact on astronomy will be extraordinary, and it will certainly revolutionize other areas of the natural sciences”

Project team members will soon begin testing and debugging FAST, after which Chinese scientists will use it for "early-stage research," Xinhua reported. But the instrument will be available to researchers around the world when that phase is over — likely two to three years from now

With a dish the size of 30 football fields, FAST is by far the largest single-aperture telescope in the world (though arrays that link up multiple radio dishes cover more ground). The previous record holder in the field is the 1,000-foot-wide (300 meters) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico

"China completed construction on the telescope — the $180-million Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST — this week by hoisting the last of its 4,450 triangular panels into place," according to a news report published by LATimes

“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,” said Zheng Xiaonian, deputy head of the National Astronomical Observation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which built the telescope, according to the official New China News Agency

“With [FAST], we can explore pulsar, black holes swallowing small objects, the evolution of stars, and the origins of the universe, and connect it with other radio-telescopes within the country to create a virtual super telescope,” Science Communication China, an official institute under the China Association for Science and Technology, said in a February column that was widely republished online in recent days