The world's largest radio telescope panel off the assembly line

On July 20, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation stated that the reflector device unit panel, an important equipment for the Chinese 500m diameter spherical radio telescope (FAST) project, went offline. On the 20th, the first batch of 1,000 units of panels were officially shipped to Guizhou and it is expected to be assembled on site on the 22nd. FAST, which is known as “the eye of the eye”, is the largest and most powerful single-antenna radio telescope currently under construction in the world. It has a large reception area of ​​about 30 football fields. Compared with the 100-meter telescope in Bonn, Germany, the sensitivity is about 10 times higher.

According to reports, the reflective panel is the core element that determines the power and accuracy of FAST detection. The reflector unit is an important part of the active reflector system and is designed and manufactured by China Electronics Technology Corporation. The total area of ​​250,000 square meters of reflective surface looks like a super "cauldron." This "cauldron" will move. The biggest feature of FAST is that the cable net structure can automatically change with the movement of the celestial body, and the 4450 reflection panels that lead the activity on the cable network can be changed enough to observe the celestial body in any direction.

Zheng Yuanpeng, the head of panel unit technology and the deputy director of the 54th Tiancheng Department of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, told reporters that this “big pot” is a real “deformation pot”. The reflective surface unit in the panel is a triangle, and the location of the reflective surface unit on the sphere is different, and its geometric dimensions, tilt angle, support point position, load size and direction are all different. There are 4450 types of reflecting units with a side length of between 10.2m and 12.4, and nearly 400 types, while an emitting surface unit is made up of 100 smaller units with different shapes.

Zheng Yuanpeng said that scientific researchers will use parameterized design methods based on the grid nodes' coordinate data and the installation size requirements of the units, accurately and efficiently give the size data of each unit, and the number of components reaches tens of millions of single subunits. Surface accuracy can eventually be controlled to 1 mm or more. Because of this, each of the 4450 reflectors can be focused with up to twice the sensitivity of the US Arecibo telescope.

Yang Dingjiang, director of the Industry Department of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, said that in addition to observing the neutral hydrogen line and other centimeter spectral lines, FAST’s design technology program explores the origins of the universe and the interstellar material structure, as well as faint pulsars and other dimmable radio sources. The search and highly efficient search for extraterrestrial rational life will achieve breakthroughs in science and technology in six aspects. It will also serve as a multidisciplinary basic research platform capable of extending the observation of neutral hydrogen to the edge of the universe and observing dark matter and Dark energy, looking for first-generation objects.

"FAST has the ability to extend deep space communications to the outer planets of the solar system and increase the satellite data reception capability by 100 times," said Yang Dingjiang.