China To Start Hunting Alien Life From September With 500 Metre Radio Telescope

Ever since humans have gotten serious about space, one big question has always been on our mind -- are we alone in the universe?

And researchers have been constantly on a lookout for signs for aliens or extraterrestrials. And China¡¯s newest telescope will attempt to do just that.

Xinhua

China¡¯s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, will begin looking for alien signals in September, according to state media Science and Technology Daily.

This telescope was showcased to the world in January. However, since then, it has been going through some upgrades that will help it reduce interference and boost its search capabilities. It is expected to be fully functional by September this year.

According to ChinaTechCity, Apart from helping humanity find extraterrestrial life in the universe, the telescope will also collect data in order to study a wide range of cosmological phenomenon, including black holes, gas clouds, pulsars and other distant galaxies.

China's new alien-hunting telescope

The telescope is around 500 metres in diameter, however it is important to note that it only focuses a 300-metre segment on the receiver at a given time.

Once ready, it will able to scan twice the sky area covered by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which was until now the record holder for the largest single-aperture radio telescope in the world.

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It was first proposed in the year 1994 with the funding getting approved sometime in 2007. The entire cost for building this monstrosity was around $270 million.

The telescope is made using 4,500 36-foot triangular panels that form the dish-like structure. Suspended on top of it is a 33-ton ¡®retina¡¯ device at a height between 460 feet and 525 feet.

The telescope is built in the Pingtang County in the southwestern province of Guizhou. For constructing this, a village of 65 people was completely uprooted while also relocating over 9000 people in surrounding villages.

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Li Di, chief scientist from the National Astronomical Observatories said in a statement, ¡°Ultimately, exploring the unknown is the nature of mankind,¡± he said in an interview with China Daily. 'It drives us to a greater future.¡±