China begins operating world's largest radio telescope

China has taken a big step forward in space exploration: a huge radio telescope, the largest in the world, has begun operating from its base in the southwest of the country.

The telescope began searching for signals from stars and galaxies on Sunday in a project demonstrating China’s rising ambitions in space and its pursuit of international scientific prestige.

Its mission includes trying to understand better the origins of the universe, and searching for extraterrestrial life.

According to Chinese scientists, the giant dish, 500 metres across, was finished in July and has now started receiving signals from space.

Engineers say more than 100 tests were performed in preparation for the launch.
Some 8,000 people were evacuated from the valley where it’s been built as it needs bigger environment.

Despite the vast scale of the operation, the structure has taken only five years to build at a cost of around 160 million euros.

Beijing hopes the telescope will symbolise a transition towards investment in science and technology.

Its sheer size will help it detect signals from far-flung corners of the cosmos.

China's giant spherical radio telescope began operating: https://t.co/9DQCiothJg #china #telescope pic.twitter.com/O8z4gBKgIc

— World Architecture (@WACommunity) September 25, 2016

China’s space ambitions include building a space station and putting a human on the moon in the next 20 years.

It once barely registered on the scale in terms of space exploration. It now ranks just behind the US.