A research institute linked to the Chinese military has manufactured the first prototype dish for what will be the world’s largest radio telescope, with vast fields of antennas picking up radio signals from space in remote regions of South Africa and Australia.
The Square Kilometre Array’s 15-metre prototype dish was built by the 54th Research Institute of CETC, a state-owned company that specialises in producing hardware and electronic communications systems for China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Once it is finished in the mid 2020s, the SKA will consist of about 200 dishes similar to the Chinese prototype stationed in South Africa and 130,000 much smaller antennas operating at a different radio frequency in Australia.
