China’s FAST Telescope Marks Decade of Cosmic Discovery
China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), known as “China’s Sky Eye,” is celebrating a decade of continuous observation since its commissioning in September 2016. The world’s largest single-dish radio telescope has discovered 1,284 pulsars—far exceeding the combined discoveries of all other radio telescopes worldwide during the same period—and has achieved new breakthroughs in decoding cosmic signals that deepen humanity’s understanding of the universe.
The milestone comes as the FAST project received the First Prize of the 2025 National Science and Technology Progress Award at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 8, 2026. Jiang Peng, Deputy Director of the National Astronomical Observatory and Chief Engineer of the FAST Operation and Development Center, accepted the award on behalf of the team, according to Xinhua News.
A Decade of Extraordinary Discovery
FAST’s scientific output over the past decade has exceeded expectations. On October 10, 2017—just one year after the telescope became operational—the National Astronomical Observatory announced that FAST had detected dozens of high-quality pulsar candidates, with six confirmed as the first pulsars discovered by a Chinese radio telescope.
Pulsars, often described as “cosmic standard clocks,” serve as precise celestial beacons for measuring the universe. As of the 10th anniversary, FAST has discovered 1,284 pulsars, including more than 170 millisecond pulsars and over 160 pulsar binary systems—including the shortest-orbit pulsar binary system known to science. ITHome reported that this figure far exceeds the combined number of pulsars discovered by all other telescopes worldwide during the same period.
Beyond pulsar discovery, FAST has made significant contributions to gravitational wave research. Its ultra-high sensitivity can improve pulsar timing precision by 4 to 50 times over previous global levels, potentially enabling the first detection of the nanohertz gravitational wave background—a frontier of intense international competition.
The telescope has also expanded its capabilities into deep space applications. FAST has completed lunar orbit and near-Earth asteroid observation missions, improving lunar surface imaging resolution from 50 meters to 20 meters. Near-Earth asteroid data can now precisely calculate asteroid size, shape, and rotation period, providing critical support for planetary defense efforts.
Chinese Technology Behind the ‘Sky Eye’
The scientific achievements are underpinned by a decade-long drive toward technological self-reliance. When FAST was first constructed, many critical components relied on imports. The past ten years have been a continuous journey of domestic substitution and technological breakthrough.
“In the past we long pursued a ‘borrowing approach,’ but the special needs of frontier astronomical research often have no mature commercial equipment to match,” Jiang Peng explained. “Relying on imports always carries three hidden dangers: supply disruption, environmental adaptation, and maintenance costs.”
One of the most significant achievements came in 2026 with the completion of domestically produced steel cables for the feed cabin. The six cables, totaling nearly 4 kilometers in length, are the core components of FAST’s cable-driven system. Yao Rui, Director of Measurement and Control Engineering at FAST, likened the arrangement to an eye: “FAST is like an eye, and the 6 steel cables are like the 6 muscles of the eyeball.” ITHome reported that the domestically produced cables, developed over three years with hundreds of test samples, cost nearly half as much as the imported German cables while achieving international-level performance.
Other localization efforts include the 2,225 actuators that drive the reflector surface—fully domestically produced since 2020—and a microwave ranging system that entered trial use in April 2026, nearly halving costs while enabling all-weather operation. The L-band low-noise amplifier, developed domestically, has achieved international-level noise performance and has even been exported to Brazil.
Engineering Challenges and Perseverance
The road to these achievements was not without obstacles. During construction in 2011, the team faced a challenge that nearly doomed the entire project. The reflector’s cable net—comprising 6,670 steel cables supporting 4,450 triangular panels—required fatigue resistance of 500 MPa, 2.5 times traditional standards.
“We tested almost all the steel cables available on the market, and none could meet the requirements,” Jiang Peng recalled. His team spent two years conducting large-scale fatigue experiments, enduring nearly 100 failures before developing the ultra-high-fatigue-resistant steel cables that now support the telescope’s “retina.”
Jiang Peng’s leadership continued after the passing of Nan Rendong, the visionary scientist who conceived the project in 1994 and is posthumously honored as “People’s Scientist.” “First, I must pay the highest respect to People’s Scientist Nan Rendong, who was the dreamer of this project,” Jiang said. “From the concept proposed in 1994 to today, through 32 years and several generations of researchers’ continuous efforts, the dream of a great national instrument has come true.”
The Next Chapter: FAST Core Array
Looking forward, FAST is not resting on its laurels. The FAST Phase II project is underway, planning to construct the world’s first “giant telescope-centered, medium telescope-surrounding” hybrid aperture radio interferometric array. The plan involves building dozens of 40-meter diameter antennas within 30 kilometers of FAST, with the first phase—the FAST Core Array—adding 24 additional 40-meter fully steerable radio telescopes within 5 kilometers.
Construction of the Core Array test prototype began on September 25, 2024, marking the telescope’s 8th anniversary. ITHome reported that the array will complement FAST’s extraordinary sensitivity with enhanced resolution and imaging capabilities.
“Observing the universe with only the Sky Eye is like drawing celestial objects with a thick pencil,” Jiang Peng explained, “while the FAST Core Array is equivalent to photographing distant starry skies with a high-resolution digital camera.”
“Going against the current, if you don’t advance, you fall behind,” Jiang frequently reminds his team. The upgraded FAST, he says, “will have irreplaceable competitiveness in frontier fields such as cosmic origins, neutral hydrogen galaxy evolution, dark energy properties, and gravitational wave detection.”
As Liu Bin, Deputy Director of Science Observation and Data at FAST, noted: “China’s Sky Eye has brought China’s radio astronomy research into the international first tier, and for the first time placed Chinese astronomers at the forefront of humanity’s gaze into the universe.”
With its decade of achievements and ambitious plans for the future, FAST continues its mission to decode the universe’s faintest signals—searching for the next “cosmic message” still sealed in the depths of space.