FAST Telescope Plans Second Phase with 40-Metre Array to Boost Resolution 200-Fold
FAST, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, is planning a second phase that will build an observation array of dozens of 40-metre telescopes around it.
China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is planning a second phase of expansion that would significantly enhance its observation capability, the project's team has said.
The plan, revealed at an academic conference marking the telescope's 10th anniversary, envisages an observation array built around FAST. Dozens of medium-sized 40-metre radio telescopes would be deployed within five kilometres of the existing facility, taking advantage of the area's favourable electromagnetic environment. FAST itself would serve as the core of the array.
Jiang Peng, chief engineer at FAST, said the completed array is expected to raise the telescope's resolution by a factor of 200 and roughly double its sensitivity. That, he said, would allow Chinese astronomers to produce major findings sooner and in greater numbers.
Scientists expect the second phase to widen FAST's reach across several research areas, including the detection of gravitational wave events, fast radio bursts, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae and black hole tidal disruption events. Beyond astrophysics, the facility is also expected to support near-Earth object warning and deep-space satellite communications, giving it a strategic role in China's space sector.
Han Zhanwen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, described how the array would change observing work. In the past, he said, astronomers might know a pulsar lay in a particular direction without being able to identify which object it was. An array, he added, would allow them to pinpoint its optical counterpart, and applying multiple detection methods to the same celestial body would yield far more information and deeper physical insights.
FAST is located in a naturally deep, round karst depression in Pingtang County in southwest China's Guizhou Province. It was inaugurated on September 25, 2016, began formal operations in January 2020 and was opened to the world in March 2021.
The anniversary conference is being held in Pingtang from Tuesday to Thursday and has drawn more than 200 experts and scholars from over 40 universities and research institutions across China.