The 110-meter fully steerable radio telescope under construction in Qitai county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is seen after completing the assembly of its three-tier antenna pedestal on August 18, 2026. Photo: CCTV News

A 110-meter fully steerable radio telescope under construction in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has completed the installation of a key supporting structure, bringing the main structure of what is designed to be the world's highest-precision and highest-frequency radio telescope of its class into the final stage of construction, according to CCTV News.

The telescope, being built in Qitai county of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, is expected to help fill a gap in China's ultra-large-aperture antenna capacity for major tasks including deep-space exploration once it becomes operational.

The latest construction milestone was reached on Tuesday when the final section of steel structure was precisely put into place and the three-tier antenna pedestal was successfully joined, giving the giant telescope its overall shape. Installation of the elevation structure will follow, the report said.

The 6,000-ton facility, featuring a 110-meter-diameter main reflector, is China's first major national scientific infrastructure project in Xinjiang. It will incorporate an advanced reflector system and ultra-wideband data reception technologies, along with high-precision rapid measurement and coordinated control systems, to enable stable, high-performance observations, Xinjiang Daily reported.

Ma Wengang, an on-site project manager from the 39th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corp, said the completion of the pedestal was a major milestone for the project. The structure is effectively the telescope's "strong arms," Ma said. It will provide stable support for the more than 3,000-ton elevation-rotating section and allow the reflector system to rotate 360 degrees around the vertical axis.

Construction of the Qitai 110-meter Radio Telescope, or QTT, began in September 2022. The main structure is scheduled to be completed in 2027, with the entire facility expected to be finished and put into operation in 2028.

Xu Qian, chief engineer of the telescope's antenna system, said the QTT is the world's highest-precision and highest-frequency fully steerable radio telescope in the 100-meter class currently under construction.

Once completed, it will achieve pointing accuracy at the arcsecond level - roughly equivalent to identifying a table-tennis ball from 3.3 kilometers away, Xu said. The telescope will be used for frontier research into the universe while also providing technical support for major national missions including deep-space exploration.

The telescope will provide a world-class platform for research into gravitational waves, fast radio bursts, black holes, dark matter and the origins of celestial bodies and life, while providing strong technical support for major national space missions, including lunar, Mars, asteroid and solar-system boundary exploration, according to Xinjiang Daily.

One of Northwest China's key geographic advantages, especially in Xinjiang, is its vast, sparsely populated terrain, ideal for astronomical observation. The remoteness helps minimize human activities and electromagnetic interference, a critical factor that affects radio telescope performance, Yuan Lanfeng, a research fellow at the Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale under the University of Science and Technology of China, told the Global Times.

China has also continued to expand its radio astronomy capabilities in recent years. 

In June, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, or FAST, known as China's "Sky Eye," completed a major overhaul of its cable-driven suspension system, with six domestically developed giant steel cables replacing key imported components for the first time, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The cables are critical to maneuvering FAST's 30-ton feed cabin with high precision above its reflector surface.

FAST has also continued to deliver scientific discoveries. In October, the National Astronomical Observatories announced that the telescope had identified 1152 new pulsars, more than all other international telescopes combined, according to CAS.

Yuan said the latest progress reflects China's increasingly comprehensive astronomical capabilities. With FAST already delivering scientific results and QTT adding high-precision tracking and deep-space support, China is building a more complete radio astronomy and space observation system.

Global Times