Proposed world's largest single dish: FAST

Bo Peng; Rendong Nan; Yan Su

doi:10.1117/12.390439

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3 July 2000 Proposed world's largest single dish: FAST

Bo Peng, Rendong Nan, Yan Su

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Proceedings Volume 4015, Radio Telescopes; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390439
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2000, Munich, Germany

Abstract

The collecting area of a radio telescope is a figure of merit of that instruments's capability. A Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is proposed to be built in the unique karst area of southwest China, and will act, in a sense, as a prototype for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). It will be over twice as large as Arecibo coupled with much wider sky coverage. Some results from site surveys for such a SKA concept are briefly reported. Technically, FAST is not simply a copy of the existing Arecibo telescope but has rather a number of innovations. Firstly, the proposed main spherical reflector, by conforming to a paraboloid of revolution in real time through actuated active control, enables the realization of both wide bandwidth and full polarization capability while using standard feed design. Secondly, a feed support system which integrates optical, mechanical and electronic technologies will effectively reduce the cost of the support structure and control system. With an overall diameter of 500 m and radius of its spherical surface of 300 m, FAST will be the world's largest single dish.

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Bo Peng, Rendong Nan, and Yan Su "Proposed world's largest single dish: FAST", Proc. SPIE 4015, Radio Telescopes, (3 July 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390439

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