BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The construction of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world's largest radio telescope, is scheduled to begin in July, according to a senior Chinese astronomer.
With the SKA project progressing from conceptual design to the implementation stage, it is estimated that 10 percent of the SKA will be completed and put into use for observation by 2028, said Wu Xiangping, chief scientist of China's SKA team.
SKA, an international project, will be jointly funded, built and run by more than 10 countries, with China being one of the seven founding members and a signatory to the SKA Observatory Convention signed in 2019.
China's SKA team will carry out research in 10 areas, including cosmic reionization detection, pulsar search, time measurement and gravitational theory test, in the next 10 years, said Wu, who is also a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body.
Based on international cooperation on the SKA project, China will set its own scientific goals and development roadmap for astronomical research, Wu said, adding that Chinese astronomers will make more contributions to exploring the universe. Enditem
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