China has set on an ambitious expansion of its Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope. This expansion aims to significantly enhance the telescope’s observational capabilities.
The expansion project will add 24 fully steerable radio telescopes, each 131 feet (40 meters) in diameter, surrounding the existing FAST structure. These additions will effectively create an array that mimics a massive telescope with a diameter of over 6 miles (10 kilometers). The new configuration will dramatically improve FAST’s resolution, making it more than 30 times more powerful than its current form.
According to China’s Xinhua news agency, the array will combine FAST’s unparalleled sensitivity with enhanced angular resolution, placing it ahead of many next-generation arrays around the world.
Currently, while FAST is the most sensitive radio telescope, its resolution lags behind other advanced arrays. This expansion addresses that limitation, enabling it not only to capture faint signals from the farthest corners of the universe but also to analyze their intricate details. Jiang Peng, director of the FAST Operation and Development Centre, explained that this upgrade would allow scientists to pinpoint the exact origins of phenomena like fast radio bursts in the vast cosmos.
The new array will provide a significant boost in FAST’s ability to observe and understand cosmic phenomena such as gravitational waves, fast radio bursts, and black hole events. The expansion arrives at a time of intense global competition in radio astronomy, with projects like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the southern hemisphere and the Next Generation Very Large Array in the U.S. also underway. China’s move to upgrade FAST ensures it remains a top player, particularly in the low to mid-frequency range where it specializes.
As senior astronomer Chang Jin said: “There’s fierce international competition in radio astronomy,” emphasizing China’s resolve to maintain its competitive edge.
However, the expansion is not without its challenges. Two key hurdles include the development of high-performance room-temperature receivers and advanced data processing technologies. The receivers are essential for capturing faint radio signals from space, but operating them efficiently at room temperature is difficult due to noise interference caused by heat. The improved data processing techniques will also be crucial, as they will need to merge signals from the new telescopes into a coherent, high-resolution image of the cosmos.
By overcoming these challenges, China hopes to extend the boundaries of what radio telescopes can achieve.
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