China has recently begun constructing a new deep-space active observation facility in the Southwestern city of Chongqing, in order to boost its defence capability against near-Earth asteroids, the Global Times on Sunday reported.
The new observation facility, codenamed China Fuyan [facetted eye], will be consisted of distributed radars with more than 20 antennas, and each antenna will have a diameter of 25 to 30 meters. Working together, they are expected to carry out high-definition observation of asteroids within 150 million kilometers, the Global Times learned from the project lead, the Beijing Institute of Technology.
The Beijing Institute of Technology Chongqing innovation center, China’s National Astronomical Observatories under the China Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University and Peking University will also join the Fuyan construction process, which will become the world’s most far-reaching radar system.
The Fuyan program comes following China’s announcement in April of plans to build a near-Earth asteroid monitoring and defense system to deal with the threat of asteroids impacting spacecraft, and contribute to protecting the safety of the Earth and the human race.
The new radar facility in Chongqing will also support the country’s quests of probing the territory between the Earth and the Moon, including searching for a proper landing target for the Tianwen-2 probe mission, the Global Times learned from the Beijing Institute of Technology.
Read more via Global Times on Sunday
