Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
5 min of reading 
0 comments 
Qitai Radio Telescope advances in Xinjiang with a fully steerable structure, designed to capture almost imperceptible radio emissions and expand Chinese observation of deep space from a mountainous region chosen for its favorable technical conditions.
China is building in Qitai County, Xinjiang, a radio telescope with a 110-meter aperture that is expected to expand the country’s capacity to observe radio emissions coming from distant regions of the universe.
The structure, weighing over 6,000 tons, will be fully steerable and is scheduled for completion and operation by 2028, according to information from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the state agency Xinhua.
Installed in a valley basin in the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, in northwest China, the equipment is part of the Qitai Radio Telescope project, known by the acronym QTT.
-
FIOL, a 1,527 km railway that will cut through Bahia to Tocantins and open an Atlantic outlet for Brazilian commodities, gains another confirmed section of 35.7 km with 2,400 direct jobs and a tight deadline of December.
-
A Chinese giant has just surrounded Mercosur all at once, as Omoda Jaecoo is set to take over a British factory in Rio de Janeiro and build another one from scratch in Argentina, in an offensive that could reshape the South American automotive map by 2027.
-
Made from local soil, a bit of cement, and a lot of pressure, the eco-friendly soil-cement brick fits together like building blocks, requires no mortar between rows, and doesn’t need a kiln, reducing construction time, waste, and carbon emissions in popular Brazilian construction.
-
Genoa sank the 22nd concrete coffin of the new breakwater into the sea just 3 days after the previous one, in a project operated 7 days a week to shield the Italian port and expand its strength on Europe’s trade routes.
The proposal is to combine a large collecting area, high sensitivity, and complete antenna mobility to accurately track different regions of the sky.
The main stage of civil engineering was crowned in June 2025, a milestone that paved the way for internal phases of the work, equipment installation, and system testing.
According to the Chinese state press, the project will be the first major national scientific infrastructure implemented in Xinjiang.
What the Qitai Radio Telescope will be like
The radio telescope will have a 110-meter diameter parabolic main reflector, equivalent to a huge metallic surface aimed at capturing radio waves.
This area allows for the recording of very weak signals, invisible to optical telescopes, which carry information about pulsars, interstellar gases, galaxies, and other cosmic phenomena.
Unlike fixed instruments, the Qitai antenna can be pointed to different parts of the sky.
This mobility enhances the flexibility of observations, allows for monitoring astronomical sources for longer periods, and favors research that requires repetition, stability, and data comparison over time.
The structure was designed as a Gregorian-type telescope, with an active main surface to correct deformations caused by gravity during the antenna’s movement.
This adjustment is essential in instruments of this size because small changes in the shape of the reflector can compromise the quality of the received signals.
According to the project’s technical description, the QTT is expected to operate over a wide range of frequencies, from 150 MHz to 115 GHz, which positions it as an observation platform for different areas of radio astronomy.
The installation was also planned to operate in modes such as pulsar observation, spectral lines, continuous emission, and very long baseline interferometry, known as VLBI.
Why Xinjiang was chosen for the project
The choice of Qitai is linked to the conditions necessary for radio astronomy.
The region is located in the Tianshan mountains, in an area relatively distant from major urban centers, with an average altitude reported around 1,760 meters by the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory.
More isolated environments help reduce electromagnetic interference produced by human activities, such as telecommunications, electronic equipment, and urban networks.
For radio telescopes, this radio silence is as important as the antenna’s aperture, as terrestrial noise can mix with the weak signals captured from space.
The location in a valley basin also favors the implementation of a large-scale structure, with space for foundations, auxiliary systems, and operational control.
In projects of this type, the stability of the terrain and protection against external interference are part of the scientific performance of the equipment itself.
The Global Times reported that the structure will weigh about 6,000 tons and will be fully steerable, with a main reflector of 110 meters.
Meanwhile, China Daily highlighted that the height of the antenna system exceeds that of a 35-story building and that the reception area is equivalent to 23 basketball courts.
What scientists intend to observe
The QTT was designed to support research on pulsars, star formation, large-scale structure of the universe, galaxies, black holes, and the interstellar medium.
Studies published by researchers linked to the project also cite applications in pulsar timing arrays, a technique used in the search for very low-frequency gravitational wave signals.
Pulsars are neutron stars that emit regular radio signals, functioning as high-precision natural clocks.
With sensitive antennas, astronomers can track variations in these signals and investigate phenomena that would not be detected by visible light observations alone.
The radio telescope can also contribute to international VLBI observation networks, a method that combines data from antennas separated by large distances.
This technique allows for measurements with very high resolution, useful for studying compact objects, star-forming regions, and radio sources in distant galaxies.
In addition to scientific research, the facility is expected to have educational and scientific outreach functions.
According to Xinhua, the complex will also serve as a space for public engagement, with activities aimed at understanding how radio waves help investigate phenomena invisible to the human eye.
Radio Telescope Strengthens Chinese Scientific Strategy
The progress of the construction in Xinjiang comes at a time of expansion of Chinese scientific infrastructure in astronomy and space exploration.
The country already operates the FAST, a 500-meter fixed radio telescope in Guizhou, and is developing other large-scale projects to expand its presence in international data production networks.
The main difference of the QTT lies in the combination of large aperture and full antenna orientation.
While the FAST has a much larger collecting area, its fixed structure limits direct pointing; the Qitai equipment, on the other hand, was designed to move the entire antenna and cover a wide portion of the sky.
This type of engineering poses complex challenges.
An antenna weighing over 6,000 tons needs to move in a controlled manner, maintain structural rigidity, and preserve the precision of the reflective surface during sensitive observations.
The balance between mass, mobility, and stability explains why steerable radio telescopes of this size are rare.
When in operation, the QTT should transform extremely faint signals into scientific data about distant regions of the cosmos.
For astronomy, the image of a gigantic antenna among mountains represents less of an isolated monumental work and more of a tool to listen to parts of the universe that do not appear in common light.
Be the first to react!