Chinese scientists announced on Saturday that the installation of the world's biggest radio telescope's "retina" is in its final stage of testing.The project is scheduled to be completed by September 2016.

The device has been dubbed FAST (or the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope). Technicians have installed a 30-tonne feed cabin above the partially completed dish-like reflector, which has a diameter and perimeter of 500 meters and 1.6 kilometers, respectively.

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After completion, the home of the feed source that helps obtain signals from the universe (the so-called cabin) will be pendent above the 4450-panelled reflector with a distance of 140 to 160 meters.

The panel is made up of 11-meter equilateral triangles with a fixed cable behind that allows position movements and angle adjustments in harmony with the source cabin. The cabin is operated with cables and has servomechanisms as a secondary adjustable system.

"If you compare the FAST to an eye, then the feed source is its retina," explains FAST program chief engineer Sun Caihong. "All signals we collect eventually comes here."

Sun admits that controlling the cabin through steel cables at high-precision rates is challenging but has assured the public that their relative error was minimized to less than 10 millimeters.

The making of FAST commenced last March 2011 with an allocation of 1.2 billion yuan. With the test feed cabin's installation, the construction of FAST will be in its final stage.

FAST is located in the mountainous area of Guizhou Province. Sun revealed that the place is ideal as its local landscape can adequately drain underground rainwater and its radio silence can sphere up to 5 km with only one county located within the 25 km radius.

Once operational, FAST will beat Puerto Rico's 300-meter wide Arecibo Observatory as the world's biggest telescope. Furthermore, when compared with Germany's 100-m telescope, FAST is 10-times more sensitive, according to the deputy head of the National Astronomical Observatories Zheng Xiaonian.

"FAST will be the top level facility in the world for at least 20 to 30 years," Zheng said.

TagsFive hundred meter aperture spherical telescope, World's Largest Telescope China, FAST Telescope China, China Telescope, World's biggest telescope, Large Observatory China, Radio Telescope China