FAST Settles in Guizhou: Observing a Thousand Rivers from Afar

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This post was last edited by zhenry on 2016-9-26 at 17:46. Source: Guizhou Daily. Date: July 3, 2016. Author: http://szb.gzrbs.com.cn/gzrb/gzrb/rb/20160703/02_02_0294.jpg On July 3, the last panel of the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope will be installed in Pingtang, our province, as planned. The 500-meter-aperture spherical radio telescope project is a major scientific and technological infrastructure construction project under the 11th Five-Year Plan; it utilizes the natural karst depressions in Guizhou as the site for the telescope, in order to enable astronomical observations over large areas with high precision. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Reporters of this newspaper: Yang Junbo, Deng Gang (photography). The Opening of Tianyan – Welcoming the FAST Era. Reporters of this newspaper: Dai Le, Xiao Langping. Nearly 2,300 years ago, the great poet Qu Yuan expressed his fantastical thoughts on the universe in his remarkable work “Tian Wen”: “At the beginning of time, who conveyed these truths? Before heaven and earth took shape, how could they be understood? In the darkness and uncertainty, who can explore them to the end?” On July 1, 1958, Mao Zedong wrote these famous lines in his seven-character poem “Seeing Off the Plague God”: “Sitting still, one can travel eighty thousand miles a day; looking up at the sky, one can see a thousand rivers.” ”　 　　In 2016, a significant chapter was written in the history of Chinese astronomy on the land of Guizhou: the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) was set to be completed by July. 　　What is FAST used for? Scientists at the observatory explain that \"it covers a wide range of astronomical topics; it has a unique advantage in conducting observational studies on everything from the early chaos of the universe, dark matter, dark energy, and large-scale structure, to the evolution of galaxies and the Milky Way, as well as star-like objects, and also on the planets in our solar system and events in nearby space.\" ” 　　Will we find more energy minerals to meet production needs? Will we discover another planet suitable for human habitation? Will we find life in outer space? FAST has taken an important step on the journey to find these answers. Taking proactive action to launch FAST Radio astronomy was born in the early 1930s. In 1932, American radio engineer Karl Guthe Jansky used a radio antenna to detect radio radiation coming from the center of the Milky Way (in the direction of Sagittarius), thus opening the first window for astronomical observations beyond the traditional optical spectrum. 　　As for the FAST project in Guizhou, its development has been full of twists and turns; \"What seems easy is actually difficult, and what appears ordinary is often the most extraordinary.\" ”From the conception of the project, to site selection, through construction, to its commissioning in September this year, it took FAST 23 years to bring to completion – a process that involved the efforts and sweat of countless people. It truly takes ten years to sharpen a sword – this is no exaggeration. 　　In 1993, at the International Union of Radio Science conference in Kyoto, Japan, astronomers from China together with those from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and other countries jointly proposed the idea of building a giant radio telescope (SKA) with a receiving area of 1 square kilometer; its sensitivity would be two orders of magnitude higher than that of the largest telescopes currently in use worldwide. 　　The proposal put forward by Chinese scientists is to use the karst depressions in Guizhou, China, to construct a spherical reflector, that is, an Arecibo-type antenna array. This array would consist of over 30 spherical antennas with a diameter of around 300 meters each, distributed over an area of several hundred kilometers. 　　Unfortunately, this proposal was not accepted. But Chinese scientists did not stop there; instead, they took proactive actions by proposing to develop an independent new type of karst facility, namely the 500-meter-aperture spherical radio telescope. 　　In April 1994, the FAST project initiated site selection efforts in Guizhou, marking the beginning of 13 years of preliminary research ； 　　On July 10, 2007, the FAST project was included in the **High-Tech Industry Development Project Plan** by the National Development and Reform Commission ； 　　In December 2008, the groundbreaking ceremony for the FAST project was held ； 　　On March 25, 2011, following the joint approval of the project startup report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the People’s Government of Guizhou Province, the construction of the FAST project officially began, with a duration of 5.5 years. 　　When it comes to the origin of FAST, it is important to note that taking proactive action is essential – only by being proactive can one achieve success. China’s FAST was built a decade or two earlier than SKA. China’s achievements have not only earned respect from international peers but also made China an important partner as a candidate site for the SKA project. 　　The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia has signed an agreement with the **Observatory to provide services for the FAST project, focusing on the development of advanced radio receivers capable of observing 19 different regions of the sky simultaneously. 　　Nithaya Chetty, deputy executive director of the South African Research Foundation, a key member country of SKA, said during a visit to FAST, “SKA is the world’s largest radio telescope under construction with a combined aperture, while FAST is the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope under construction; there is room for cooperation between the two in the field of astronomy.” ” Why Dawaodang in Guizhou? Why did scientists propose the concept of Guizhou’s karst landscape? And why was the location ultimately chosen as Dawaodang in Pingtang? The shape of the spherical reflector of the radio telescope is the primary factor in selecting a location. On the one hand, the sinkhole is perfectly suitable for accommodating this huge “pot”” ； On the other hand, without relying on the sinkhole, steel frames supporting the large radio telescope would have to be erected from the ground up. Not only would this be prohibitively expensive, but it would also fail to meet the required precision standards. 　　Where to locate FAST? Scientists are searching across the country, with a focus on the southwest, and within the southwest, Guizhou is the key area. Who is the best pit? It’s a tough “draft”. In the end, Dawo Dang stood out. 　　In 1994, a team of experts from the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, used a combination of remote sensing technology, geographic information systems, field tests, and laboratory analysis to create a database of the topography and geomorphology of 391 potential sinkholes, from which more than 90 were subsequently selected. 　　In this round of site selection, several low-lying areas in Puding County and Hepingtang County within Guizhou Province were chosen, while low-lying areas that met the basic requirements were also found in provinces such as Gansu, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Guangxi. 　　Good things take time; success comes only with determination and perseverance. The site for FAST was not determined in the first round of site selection. In September 2002, officials from relevant departments such as the Guizhou Science and Technology Department held discussions with the **Observatory, hoping that Guizhou would take charge of the second round of site selection. Subsequently, the relevant departments reached a consensus and formed a site selection team headed by Professor Song Jianbo from the former Guizhou University of Technology, with doctors and postdoctoral researchers such as Liu Hong, Wang Wenjun, and Xiang Xiqiong as its main members. 　　One can travel through green mountains without growing old. Over a period of four years, the site selection team in Guizhou gathered extensive data on the region’s geology, hydrogeology, seismogeology, climate, and meteorology. From the numerous karst depressions across the province, 743 such karst peak-cluster depressions were identified as potential sites, from which 82 depressions were initially selected; these are concentrated in Qiannan Prefecture, Qianxinan Prefecture, and Anshun City. There was once fierce competition between Puding and Pingtang, but through software-based simulations and on-site evaluations, Dawaodang in Pingtang came out on top. 　 　　There are three reasons for choosing “Dawaodang” as the location: first, its topography is most similar to that of FAST, resulting in the least amount of earthwork required for construction ； Secondly, the karstic geology here allows rainwater to penetrate underground, preventing it from accumulating on the surface and thus damaging or corroding the telescope ； Thirdly, radio telescopes require a quiet location; within a radius of 5 kilometers around \"Dawaodang\", there are no towns or villages, and within a radius of 25 kilometers, there is only one county town, resulting in an ideal radio environment. 　　Peng Bo, deputy manager of the FAST project and deputy governor of Qiannan Prefecture, still remembers that his first visit to Pingtang was in 1994; “The marvelously formed Dawaodang sinkhole captivated me from the very first moment I saw it.” 　　If we say that China launched the FAST project as a result of the proactive efforts of its scientists, then that is indeed the case ； Thus, the establishment of FAST in Guizhou once again demonstrates the importance of Guizhou and Pingtang’s proactive efforts in making such efforts. Reaching far into the distance, it can gaze beyond 10 billion light-years. There are already many bases around the world dedicated to detecting extraterrestrial planets, so why does FAST attract so much attention? Its uniqueness lies in its size – it’s the largest of its kind in the world! It is the biggest single-aperture radio telescope ever built by humans. Just how large is it? FAST has a diameter of 500 meters, which is equivalent to the length of one li. The perimeter is about 1.6 kilometers; it takes roughly 40 minutes to walk all the way around. Its total reflective surface area is about 250,000 square meters, and its receiving area is equivalent to that of nearly 30 football fields. 　　Some say it looks like a large iron pot; since a regular household wok has a diameter of 30 centimeters, this pot is equivalent to 1,667 woks placed in a row. 　　So, what is the greater significance? Is it purely for showing off? Is boredom greater than that? The answer is no. **Engineers working on the FAST project at the observatory explained that the ability to detect signals from beyond Earth is closely related to its size. Simply put, the larger the eyes, the farther one can see. 　　How far can China’s \"Sky Eye\" see? According to experts, it is possible for this telescope to detect radio signals even from distances of hundreds of billions of light-years away. It may also enable the discovery of giant magnetar galaxies with high redshifts, leading to the first observation of a methanol hypermaser outside the Milky Way ； It is used to search for and identify possible interstellar communication signals, as well as to look for extraterrestrial civilizations, etc. 　　What’s particularly special is that this “sky eye” is not a “dead eye”; just as humans turn their eyeballs, it can change automatically as celestial bodies move, thereby capturing the radio waves emitted by those bodies. 　　The sensitivity of China’s \"Sky Eye\" is 10 times that of the 100-meter aperture telescope in Eifelberg, Germany, which is known as the \"largest telescope on land\", and it is 2.25 times that of the 300-meter aperture Arecibo radio telescope in the United States, which is considered one of the top 10 engineering projects of the 20th century. Over the next 20 to 30 years, this radio telescope will remain at the world’s premier level. 　　**Zheng Xiaonian, deputy director of the observatory and executive deputy commander of the FAST project, emphasized that China’s \"Sky Eye\" is capable of scanning for neutral hydrogen in the universe, detecting interstellar molecules, observing pulsars, and searching for interstellar communication signals. As a multidisciplinary basic research platform, FAST is able to discover around 7,000 pulsars in one year, and to study the structural properties and physical laws of matter under extreme conditions ； There is hope of discovering exotic star and quark star matter ； The discovery of neutron stars – black hole binaries – allows for the determination of the black hole’s mass with precision without relying on models ； Detecting gravitational waves by precisely measuring the arrival times of pulsars ； As the largest station, it joins the International Very Long Baseline Array for imaging the ultra-fine structure of celestial objects. 　　Some foreign media have stated that this giant telescope, nicknamed the \"Sky Eye,\" adds an impressive element to China’s already ambitious space program, and one that has the potential to change the way humanity observes the universe. 　　There is a statistic that illustrates just how significant its importance is. Of the 10 Nobel Prize-winning achievements in history that were clearly based on astronomical observations, 6 were achieved using radio telescopes; important astronomical discoveries such as pulsars, quasars, the cosmic microwave background radiation, and interstellar organic molecules all stem from this field. Radio astronomy has thus become the cradle of the Nobel Prize. 　　For many years, Chinese scientists have always relied on second-hand data from others, making it difficult to produce outstanding results even when conducting research. FAST will make up for China’s shortcomings in the field of observation, enabling China to move from a position of \"catching up\" to one of \"leading\" in the field of radio astronomy. ■Short comment: The people of China are full of great aspirations. 　　At the FAST command center, a couplet is engraved on the back of the foundation stone: “In the north, the Bird’s Nest is built to welcome the sacred flame; in the south, Wodang is constructed to let the stars descend.” ”Indeed, our journey is toward the stars; this is a mission determined by strategy. 　　As the base for the FAST project, Guizhou is not only a provider of services for the project but also an active participant in its construction and research. To live up to this era, and to ensure that ** and future generations are not held hostage by others, we go all out; we reap rewards through our efforts, and we grow stronger as well through them. 　　Our journey is toward the stars, not only in the FAST project but also in other areas. It is an undeniable duty to contribute to this great cause of rejuvenation, and it is an honor to do so. Our journey is to the stars