New Drone Footage Of The Worlds Largest Radio Telescope

China has been constructing the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope since 2011, and is set to be completed by September next year.. New drone footage released by China Central Television shows they are making rapid progress.

When it’s finished, the Five-hundred-meter-Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) dish’s diameter will surpass the current record holder, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, by 200 meters. It will be able to detect radio signals from planets a billion miles away, potentially widening the search for alien life.

It will feature 4600 triangular panels each of which is fixed with a cable, so that it can change positions with an accuracy of 0.03 inches (0.07 cm). FAST will be 500 meters wide, and have a zenith angle of 40 degrees.