China launches construction on world’s most far-reaching radar system

The construction of the most “long-range” radar station in the world has begun, which will have to detect objects at a distance of 150 million kilometres, which is equal to the Sun’s distance from the Earth.

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 metres, the Chinese newspaper Huanqiu Ribao (Global Times) informs.

Working together, they are expected to carry out high-definition observation of asteroids within 150 million kilometres, the Global Times learned from the project lead, the Beijing Institute of Technology.

In the first stage, China will build two radars starting in September 2022. Then their number will be increased to four. This will provide a three-dimensional image of the moon.

The antennas to be built will allow obtaining a detailed three-dimensional image of any objects inside the Earth's orbit and the inner solar system.

The schedule for the last stage of work is yet to be approved, so scientists do not name the dates for putting the radar into operation.

The Fuyan program comes following China's announcement in April of plans to build a near-Earth asteroid monitoring and defence system to deal with the threat of asteroids impacting spacecraft, and contribute to protecting the safety of the Earth and the human race.

A ground-based and space-based monitoring and warning system for asteroids will be set up to catalogue and analyse asteroids that potentially pose a threat to human space activities. Technology and engineering will be developed to dispel these threats.