The largest radio telescope in the world, 500 meters in diameter, designed to better understand the universe and even to look for signs of the existence of extraterrestrial life, will be fully operational in China next January, becoming the symbol of the emergence of the Asian giant as one of the world leaders in research. Nestled between the Pingtang Mountains in southwest China's Guizhu Province, this gigantic parable, spanning 30 football fields, will open up its powerful measurement capabilities to foreign astronomers in weeks.

This radio telescope, known by its acronym as Fast, will be an especially precious instrument for the scientific community after the collapse, earlier this month, of the second radio telescope in the world for its size, the Arecibo (305 meters), an American infrastructure installed in Puerto Rico.

"I was in Arecibo. We have been inspired by its structure, which we have improved little by little," Wang Qiming, head of Fast's operations center, told AFP. This structure is so large that it takes 20 minutes to turn it around and it is also three times more sensitive than the now defunct Arecibo. It was built between 2011 and 2016 and 170 million were invested.

“Electronic silence”

To prevent the waves emitted by humans and their devices -mobiles, computers- from disturbing the measurements, it is surrounded by a zone of "electronic silence" of 5 kilometers.

The Fast is used mainly to capture radio signals emitted by celestial bodies, especially pulsars, dead stars that rotate on themselves. These waves make it possible to reconstitute an image of the objects observed. The data collected helps astronomers better understand the origins of the universe. It can also be used to "detect eventual extraterrestrial civilizations", adds Wang under the immense parable made up of 4,450 metal panels.

In accordance with international practice for this type of apparatus, the Fast will accept from 2021 the demands of foreign scientists who want to carry out their measurements there. A committee will discuss the scientific interest of each project and decide "whether it should be validated," says Wang Qiming.

John Dickey, professor of physics at the University of Tasmania (Australia), is enthusiastic about this new radio telescope. "I have seen the results obtained by the Fast so far. They are excellent", especially with the discovery of more than 200 pulsars. "I would very much like to use it," he says. This astronomer has followed the evolution of the Asian giant with interest in recent decades. "China is obviously today a world center for scientific research, on the same level as the United States or Western Europe." "Its researchers are as avant-garde, creative and well organized as in any other advanced country," he adds.

For lack of means, China was underdeveloped in science for a long time. But for 20 years, it has been catching up fast, relying less and less on foreign technologies. In this period, China has built the largest high-speed rail network in the world - more than 35,000 kilometers -, completed its Beidu geolocation system - a competitor of the US GPS - and is already bringing lunar samples to Earth.

"Today, innovation is the keyword," says Denis Simon, an expert on Chinese science policy. "Scientists and engineers are increasingly given decision-making power and intellectual freedom to explore new ideas and take greater risks in their research."

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