China’s ‘Eye of Heaven’ and the power of scientific commitment

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China’s ‘Eye of Heaven’ and the power of scientific commitment

Published: 14 Aug. 2025, 00:06

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Moon Hong-kyu

The author is a principal researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.

In the limestone mountains of Guizhou Province in southwest China, millions of years of rainfall dissolved the rock to create a basin 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) above sea level. In one of these basins, China built the world’s largest radio telescope — the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST. In Chinese, it is called “Tianyan,” meaning “Eye of Heaven,” a name given by novelist Wang Meng.

A colleague recently visited the site, where the dish is large enough to fit 30 football fields. No man-made machine matches its ability to detect the faintest whispers of the universe. It can capture the precise, short “tick-tick” signals emitted by the fast-spinning neutron stars known as pulsars, or mysterious bursts lasting just thousandths of a second from billions of light years away.

An aerial drone photo taken on Feb. 18, 2025 shows China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) under maintenance in southwest China's Guizhou Province. Located in Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Pingtang County. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

The structure consists of 4,450 reflector panels, produced by companies once making pots and pans. Their aluminum-forming expertise allowed for the precision shaping of the antenna’s curved surface. In radio astronomy, telescopes are said to “listen” to the universe. Within a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) radius of Tianyan, all radio transmissions are banned to prevent interference; even mobile phones are prohibited. Only a student who carried a film camera managed to take photos.

China’s ambitions extend far beyond the technology itself. The aim is to build world-class facilities that can attract scientists back from overseas, strengthen domestic capabilities and secure its standing as a scientific power. Tianyan's construction cost 230 billion won ($166.7 million), but including the relocation and resettlement of local residents, the total reached 600 billion won. The government also provides separate research and operating budgets to the organization National Astronomical Observatories, which manages Tianyan.

Major powers typically allocate about 10 percent of a telescope’s construction cost each year for operations. In Korea, no such system exists. When equipment breaks down, researchers often have to dip into project budgets to make repairs, adding both physical and mental strain.

The developments in a country once derided in Korea as “Communist China” — a term used in the past to imply an impoverished and hostile state — are striking. The lesson is clear: science policy must be rooted in science itself. Without steady investment in infrastructure and long-term operational support, ambitions in astronomy — or any field of advanced research — will be hard to sustain.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom staff.