Armed with a giant telescope, China goes on the hunt for extraterrestrial life

Technology

The FAST, the largest radio telescope in the world, has a satellite dish with a diameter of 500 meters.

China is once again showing its interest in space by announcing the imminent launch of its project to search for intelligent life forms in space, as Slash Gear. A search for which China will deploy its huge 500-meter sphere telescope, the FAST. It is located in Guizhou Province and is the largest single-camera radio telescope in the world.

Read also – Search for aliens “is much more credible than before”

Construction began in 2011 and was completed four years ago in 2016. In order to put the plane into operation, the authorities had to devastate a small village and resettle nearly 9,000 people. It was indeed imperative that no electromagnetic interference be detected within a radius of 5 kilometres around the radio telescope.

On the hunt from September

As Reports Engadget, almost is now preparing to search for traces of extraterrestrial life from September. According to scientific officer Zhang Tongjie, this should not affect the telescope’s other missions.

Results that are delayed

It is able to detect radio waves emitting from objects in space, such as pulsars, interstellar gas clouds, black holes, distant galaxies, and even the first stars in the universe.

Read also – Space: The Origin of a Mysterious Radio Signal in a Galaxy Not So Far Away

However, immediate results are not expected. The process on which Fast is based is nothing new and its functioning is actually particularly random and inaccurate, despite the increased performance and sensitivity of the latter. In fact, his task will be to scan the room in search of radio signals. However, these can come from simple spatial reactions and not from extraterrestrials. Scientists must determine the source of the signals. A titan job.