Fast, the world’s largest radio telescope, will open to non-Chinese scientists later this year for a wide range of projects, including the search for alien civilisations.
Researchers interested in using the 500 metre (640 feet) wide telescope in the southwestern region of Guizhou can submit their proposals to the National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing starting from April 1.
As demand is expected to be huge, an expert panel will help screen the proposals for the most promising candidates. Foreign scientists may be able to start using the facilities by August, said Jiang Peng, the telescope’s chief engineer.
China is now the only country in the world that operates a giant telescope after the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed at the end of last year as a result of hurricanes and the failure to maintain it properly.
The Fast telescope – or Five-hundred-metre aperture spherical radio telescope – is so large that it can hold enough water to fill a bottle for every human being four times over. The telescope’s extreme size means it can intercept signals that other radio telescopes will miss – possibly including radio waves generated by extraterrestrials.