Just after the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon, researchers are monitoring the operating status of the telescope and collecting and recording data information from the universe in the "China Tianyan" FAST master control room located in the beautiful mountains of Pingtang County, Guizhou Province.

The world's largest single aperture radio telescope - 500m aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST). Photographed by Yang Junbo and Deng Gang

With the super sensitivity of telescopes, FAST has monitored 883 pulsars, more than three times the total number of foreign telescopes of the same type in the same period since its operation. At the same time, FAST has produced a series of world-class achievements in the fields of rapid radio bursts and gravitational wave detection. More than 10 papers have been published in Nature and Science, and have been selected as one of the "Top Ten Scientific Advances in China".

Jiang Peng, deputy to the National People's Congress and executive deputy director and chief engineer of FAST Operation and Development Center, said, "FAST has made a series of achievements, which are the result of the efforts of countless people in the team."

On January 19, the "National Engineer Award" commendation conference was held in the Great Hall of the People, and FAST engineering team was awarded the title of "National Outstanding Engineer Team". Jiang Peng said that this honor is not only a consolation to Nan Rendong, but also an encouragement and encouragement to everyone.

Nan Rendong (middle) and engineering technicians checked the construction progress at the construction site of Dawodang (photographed on December 1, 2014). Picture provided by National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences

In 1994, Nan Rendong, who was a visiting professor in Japan, gave up his highly paid job abroad and resolutely returned to China, determined to build the world's largest single aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST), so that Chinese astronomers could see more profound stars. He said, "Everyone else has their own big equipment, but we don't have it. I really want to try it."

When FAST began to select the site, Nan Rendong was nearly 50 years old, but he ignored persuasion and surveyed in person. From 1994 to 2005, he led his team to visit hundreds of Cotai in Guizhou mountains. A bamboo pole, several heart saving pills and several pairs of worn and cracked shoes all record the difficulty of site selection.

Nan Rendong is on the FAST ring beam. Picture provided by National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences

After more than ten years of hard work and traveling through thousands of mountains and rivers, Nan Rendong led his team to finally select the FAST construction site in the rocky karst mountain, a "big nest" in Kedu Town, Pingtang County.

In March 2011, FAST officially started construction. Just as everyone was enthusiastic about the construction, a problem appeared in front of the team - different from the existing single aperture radio telescopes in the world, FAST pioneered the initiative to deform the reflector, which can change its shape, but it has high requirements for the fatigue resistance of the cable net supporting its continuous transformation, and the existing cable is embarrassed.

In order to overcome this problem, Jiang Peng led the team to conduct large-scale cable fatigue tests for two years. After nearly a hundred failures, they finally conquered the cable technology of ultra-high strength and anti repeated tension, effectively supporting the transformation of FAST reflector units, and helping FAST better collect and observe astronomical signals.

On the morning of March 6, the Guizhou delegation attending the second session of the 14th National People's Congress held an open group activity in the residence to open up the process of reviewing the government work report to the Chinese and foreign media. Representative Jiang Peng answered questions from media reporters.

In the process of project construction, FAST engineering team also developed the key technology of complex system control of reflector, developed the hydraulic actuator cluster with electromagnetic compatibility technology, etc., realized a number of key technology innovations, and laid a solid foundation for the successful completion of the national key device "China Tianyan".

On January 11, 2020, after more than 20 years of demonstration, project approval and hard construction, "China Tianyan" passed the national acceptance and was put into use, becoming the world's largest single aperture and most sensitive radio telescope with China's independent intellectual property rights. Its use is of great significance for China to achieve major original breakthroughs in the scientific frontier and accelerate innovation driven development.

"Everyone can stand the hardship and sit on the bench." Jiang Peng said that the team members had worked overtime on the site for three consecutive Spring Festival in order to solve important scientific and technological problems during FAST commissioning. Not only that, FAST runs all year round, and everyone insists on fighting in the front line, supporting the normal operation of the telescope in all directions, and ensuring the normal output of the telescope.

Team member Sun Chun is working on the observation task (Courtesy of interviewees)

Monitoring equipment operation, sorting out observation data... The Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon is the fifth time Sun Chun, a team member, has spent the Spring Festival in the company. She said that as a young scientific research worker, she would vigorously carry forward the spirit of scientists, constantly learn and improve her skills, do a good job in the operation and maintenance of telescopes, provide better service guarantee for astronomical scientists around the world, and let FAST produce more and better major achievements.

After several years, team member Yao Rui still clearly remembers the difficulty of "slimming down" the feeder cabin. The feed cabin is the core component of FAST. There are a lot of sophisticated equipment in the cabin. These equipment are related to whether the "pupil" can be seen clearly and accurately. At that time, there were many theoretical gaps in this kind of research all over the world.

Team member Yao Rui

In 2012, Yao Rui, 28 years old, was appointed as the head of the feed cabin. She led the team to start a two-year journey to tackle key problems, and finally optimized the feed cabin from a cylinder to a "diamond triangle", which successfully "slimmed down" the feed cabin, ensured that FAST feed cabin completed various tasks and technical requirements on time and quality, and created necessary conditions for the smooth construction, operation and commissioning of FAST.

Gan Hengqian, another team member, is mainly engaged in developing new technologies and methods to upgrade the telescope. He said that FAST operation and maintenance is not a routine routine. To maintain a huge equipment well and operate efficiently, it is necessary to constantly expand its functions and improve its performance.

Team member Gan Hengqian (right) installs low-frequency receiver on site (the interviewee himself provides the picture)

Gan Hengqian said that he would take the older generation of scientific researchers represented by Nan Rendong as an example, be brave in innovation, maintain FAST well, and produce more high-quality observation data and major scientific achievements to give back to society and the country.

Turning to the future, Jiang Peng said that he would continue to carry out scientific research to tackle key problems, constantly solve the "choke" problem in China's radio astronomy field, maintain FAST's core competitiveness in the international similar equipment, and serve the country's major strategic needs.

Guizhou Daily Tianyan News Reporter Yuan Hang

Edited by Luo Qiuhong

Second instance Shi Yunhua

Third instance: Yue Zhen