China's ambitious search for alien life comes with a human cost.
Authorities plan to uproot 9,110 residents to make way for the world's largest radio telescope, the five hundred meter Aperture spherical telescope China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports.
The
massive engineering and scientific project will allow researchers to
detect radio signals from as far as tens of billions of light years
away, potentially taking us one step closer in our quest to discover if
we are truly alone in the universe.
Each resident will get 12,000 yuan ($1,838) in compensation.
An extra 10,000 yuan will be made available to households from the province many ethnic minorities that experience housing difficulties.
Li
Yuecheng, a senior provincial Communist Party official, said the
resettlement would "create a sound electromagnetic wave environment."
China is no stranger to massive relocations for public projects. Some 1.2 million people were resettled to make way for the Three Gorges Dam.
The
telescope -- when completed the dish itself will be the size of 30
football pitches -- has the potential to be a game-changer for our
understanding of the universe, and our search for life on other planets.
When it is finished it will
potentially be able to detect radio signals -- and potentially, signs of
life -- from planets orbiting a million stars and solar systems.
Newly released photos offer fresh view of moon's surface
The
remoteness of the location -- meaning minimal interference from other
radio signals -- and the region's topography make it an ideal site for a
telescope of this kind.
When
operational, it will surpass the current largest radio telescope, the
Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which has a diameter of 305 meters.
Nan
Rendong, chief scientist of the FAST project, told Xinhua last year
that the huge dish will enable much more accurate detection.
"A
radio telescope is like a sensitive ear, listening to tell meaningful
radio messages from white noise in the universe. It is like identifying
the sound of cicadas in a thunderstorm," he said.
A side-by-side comparison of Kepler 452-b and Earth (artist's conception).
Its unprecedented precision will allow astronomers to survey the Milky Way and other galaxies and detect faint pulsars, and the array might also work as a powerful ground station for future space missions.
And, of course, it will advance the search for extraterrestrial signs of life.
In July 2015, when NASA discovered an earth-like planet named Kepler-452b there was understandable excitement.
It was in the so-called 'Goldilocks zone' -- the right distance from its sun to support an atmosphere and liquid water.
But
detecting radio signals -- signs of life -- from the planet is beyond
the means of our current instruments. But not for FAST.
Wu
Xiangping, director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society, was
bullish about its capabilities. "It will help us to search for
intelligent life outside of the galaxy and explore the origins of the
universe," he told state media
The current largest single-dish radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
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