Recently, the news that the "Chinese Compound Eye" was successfully launched for observation and captured the radar three-dimensional image of the lunar crater base has attracted everyone's attention.
What is "Chinese Compound Eye"? The previous article "The most important weapon of the country: China's compound eye" has an introduction.
What is the difference between the "Chinese Compound Eye" reported this time and the previously known " Chinese Sky Eye "? The construction site of
is different from
"China Sky Eye", which is located in Dawodang Depression, Jinke Village, Kedu Town, Pingtang County, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province.
"China Compound Eye", the first and second phase construction locations are both in Chongqing. The first phase project is located in Longxing New Town, Liangjiang, and the second phase project will start construction in Yunyang County .
The construction time is different.
"China Sky Eye" was built on March 25, 2011, and put into use on January 11, 2020.
"China Compound Eye", the first phase of the project officially started construction in December 2021. In December 2022, the installation, commissioning and startup observation of the first phase of the project were completed. The second phase of the project is expected to start construction in early 2023.
Different concepts
"China Sky Eye" is the world's largest spherical radio telescope, a large scientific equipment used for universe exploration and research. The goal is to search and identify possible interstellar communication signals, search for extraterrestrial civilizations, etc.
"Chinese Compound Eye" is a deep space detection radar planned and constructed by Beijing Institute of Technology's Chongqing Innovation Center in Chongqing. It can realize the observation of asteroids and terrestrial planets hundreds of millions of kilometers away, expand the boundaries of human deep space observation, and meet my country's scientific research needs such as near-Earth asteroid impact defense and earth-moon situational awareness .
Different configurations
"China Sky Eye" has an aperture of 500 meters, a reflecting surface composed of 4450 reflecting units, and a total area of 250,000 square meters, which is equivalent to the size of 30 standard football fields. It is the largest and most sensitive single-aperture radio telescope in the world.
"Chinese Compound Eye" is a distributed radar composed of multiple small antennas. After the completion of the third phase, there will be 400 small antennas. The largest diameter of each antenna is only about 30 meters, combined into one large antenna. These radars can work independently or work together to detect farther and smaller celestial bodies.
works differently
"China Sky Eye" is a radio astronomical telescope that mainly receives signals emitted by stars and does not emit electromagnetic waves .
"Chinese Compound Eye" can emit electromagnetic waves by itself to detect asteroids, and can receive the echoes of electromagnetic waves emitted by itself.
Different detection distances
The "Chinese Sky Eye" is a "far-sighted eye". It can see light-years away. In theory, it can receive electromagnetic signals 13.7 billion light-years away. This distance is close to the edge of the universe.
The "Chinese Compound Eye" is "myopic". It can only see clearly things within a range of 150 million kilometers (equivalent to the distance from the earth to the sun). It is used to observe celestial bodies in the solar system, such as observing planets like Venus, Mars , Jupiter .
"Sky Eye" cooperates with "Compound Eye"
Currently there is only one FAST, and there is no supporting 100-meter telescope nearby. Han Jinlin, chief researcher of the National Astronomical Observatory, said, "It is like having only an aircraft carrier, without frigates and destroyers. I hope that in the future, the 'aircraft carrier' FAST can be equipped with these 'fleets' so that it can play a more important role." With the completion of the "China Compound Eye", they will play a very complementary role, making our country's aerospace vision more complete and protecting our beautiful homeland.
's message to
"Look up at the vastness of the universe and look down at the prosperity of categories." The exploration of the deep and vast universe will never end. In the future, our country will continue to deepen mankind's understanding of the universe and promote aerospace technology to better benefit people all over the world.
