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China Compound Eye space radar project looks to build on initial success
Zhang Tong in Beijing
Published: 11:59pm, 15 Feb, 2023
Aerial view of phase one of the China Compound Eye space radar project, which eventually will have more than 100 radars working together. Photo: Beijing Institute of Technology
China’s ambitions to build the world’s most powerful space observation radar – to peer further out and with greater detail than ever before – moved a step closer on Tuesday, with the start of work on stage two of the China Compound Eye.
Long Teng, president of the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), which is leading the project, said that once completed, Chongqing, where the project is based, “will become the world’s capital of asteroid research”.
“[The] launch of the second phase of the China Compound Eye project marks a new stage of our research. It will promote the development of high-end industries such as big data, electronic information, and satellite internet in Chongqing,” he said, in a BIT statement.
The facility, which takes up more than 1.2 sq km (300 acres), is located in the southwestern municipality’s Yunyang district, at the core of the Three Gorges Dam area.
The BIT statement said the project would enable China to maintain its leading position in the field of deep space technology “for a long time”.
“The project will provide important support for China’s ongoing near-Earth asteroid monitoring and defence system established by the China National Space Administration, as well as other planetary science research,” it said.
Long Teng, President of the Beijing Institute of Technology, speaks at the launch ceremony for the second phase of the China Compound Eye space radar project in Chongqing. Photo: Beijing Institute of Technology
The project is divided into three phases, with the first consisting of four radars that were switched on in December 2022 and created the world’s first three-dimensional map of the lunar surface based on distributed radar.
The success of the initial radars, each with a 16-metre (52.4 feet) aperture, verified the feasibility of the system and some of its key technologies.
“It meets national needs, including near-Earth asteroid defence and space situational awareness,” the BIT said.
Stage two is expected to be completed in 2025, when the installation will boast 25 radars with apertures of 30 metres (98.4 feet).
“After completion of the second phase, the third phase will expand radar numbers to above 100, and expand the boundaries of human’s deep space exploration
with radar,” the BIT said.
“The project will provide support for the world’s cutting-edge scientific research such as habitability of earth and planet formation.”
Eventually, the China Compound Eye will have an unparalleled detection range of 150 million km (93 million miles),
capable of high-precision observation and imaging of distant asteroids and celestial bodies like the moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter.
Unlike China’s FAST (Five hundred metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope) installation – the largest of its kind in the world – in Guizhou province, the China Compound Eye works like a bat’s sonar system by emitting electromagnetic waves and receiving their echoes.
Multiple-aperture, deep-space detection radars are combined into a single large antenna during operation, in a similar way to an insect’s compound vision.
While the power of a single radar is limited, the power superposition between them makes ultra-long range detection possible.
The FAST telescope receives radio signals from targets thousands of light years away, but the China Compound Eye – an “ultra-large distributed aperture radar high-resolution deep space active observation facility” – will be able to clearly record asteroids approaching the Earth without distortions from light or clouds.
The China Compound Eye will act as a surveillance camera on space, able to detect objects that may pose a threat to satellites or space stations early enough for them to be destroyed or avoided.
- Work begins on next stage after phase one verifies feasibility of technology that mimics the animal world to expand exploration
- When completed, the installation will be the most powerful on Earth and make Chongqing ‘world capital’ of asteroid research
Zhang Tong in Beijing
Published: 11:59pm, 15 Feb, 2023
Aerial view of phase one of the China Compound Eye space radar project, which eventually will have more than 100 radars working together. Photo: Beijing Institute of Technology
China’s ambitions to build the world’s most powerful space observation radar – to peer further out and with greater detail than ever before – moved a step closer on Tuesday, with the start of work on stage two of the China Compound Eye.
Long Teng, president of the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), which is leading the project, said that once completed, Chongqing, where the project is based, “will become the world’s capital of asteroid research”.
“[The] launch of the second phase of the China Compound Eye project marks a new stage of our research. It will promote the development of high-end industries such as big data, electronic information, and satellite internet in Chongqing,” he said, in a BIT statement.
The facility, which takes up more than 1.2 sq km (300 acres), is located in the southwestern municipality’s Yunyang district, at the core of the Three Gorges Dam area.
The BIT statement said the project would enable China to maintain its leading position in the field of deep space technology “for a long time”.
“The project will provide important support for China’s ongoing near-Earth asteroid monitoring and defence system established by the China National Space Administration, as well as other planetary science research,” it said.
Long Teng, President of the Beijing Institute of Technology, speaks at the launch ceremony for the second phase of the China Compound Eye space radar project in Chongqing. Photo: Beijing Institute of Technology
The project is divided into three phases, with the first consisting of four radars that were switched on in December 2022 and created the world’s first three-dimensional map of the lunar surface based on distributed radar.
The success of the initial radars, each with a 16-metre (52.4 feet) aperture, verified the feasibility of the system and some of its key technologies.
“It meets national needs, including near-Earth asteroid defence and space situational awareness,” the BIT said.
Stage two is expected to be completed in 2025, when the installation will boast 25 radars with apertures of 30 metres (98.4 feet).
“After completion of the second phase, the third phase will expand radar numbers to above 100, and expand the boundaries of human’s deep space exploration
with radar,” the BIT said.“The project will provide support for the world’s cutting-edge scientific research such as habitability of earth and planet formation.”
Eventually, the China Compound Eye will have an unparalleled detection range of 150 million km (93 million miles),
capable of high-precision observation and imaging of distant asteroids and celestial bodies like the moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter.Unlike China’s FAST (Five hundred metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope) installation – the largest of its kind in the world – in Guizhou province, the China Compound Eye works like a bat’s sonar system by emitting electromagnetic waves and receiving their echoes.
Multiple-aperture, deep-space detection radars are combined into a single large antenna during operation, in a similar way to an insect’s compound vision.
While the power of a single radar is limited, the power superposition between them makes ultra-long range detection possible.
The FAST telescope receives radio signals from targets thousands of light years away, but the China Compound Eye – an “ultra-large distributed aperture radar high-resolution deep space active observation facility” – will be able to clearly record asteroids approaching the Earth without distortions from light or clouds.
The China Compound Eye will act as a surveillance camera on space, able to detect objects that may pose a threat to satellites or space stations early enough for them to be destroyed or avoided.
