The Chinese race to find aliens

With the world's largest radio telescope, China may be the first country to detect aliens.

China is focusing on developing space science, including building and putting the world's largest radio telescope into operation, according to Newsweek.

The world's largest telescope construction process.(Video: CNN).

China has invested heavily in scientific research, especially since the 1980s, according to researcher Ross Andersen, editor of science and technology section of Atlantic magazine.

The country also reaped great achievements in space science in the 21st century. In 2003, China succeeded in bringing its people to space for the first time. In September 2011, China's first manned space station, launched into orbit and ended its mission in March last year.

China's race to develop space science achieved a new breakthrough when it completed the construction of the world's largest radio telescope, in the limestone basin of Pingtang District, Guizhou Province. 2016.

Unlike conventional radio stations that only receive signals from stations on Earth, radio telescopes search for signals outside the universe. Radio signals do not necessarily come from extraterrestrial beings, but planets and stars in space can also emit radio signals, although the intensity is very weak.

"The latest Chinese telescope can observe faster and farther than any device looking for intelligent life out of space was born before it," said Douglas Vakoch, the project leader. Alien intelligence (METI), said.

China cooperates with the European Space Agency to build bases on the Moon.(Photo: Popular Mechanics).

Not stopping at the world's largest radio telescope, China intends to put one, that is, not half toward Earth. It also cooperates with the European Space Agency (ESA) to plan to build a manned base on the Moon.

In the 13th 5-year plan set by China in March last year and effective until 2020, spending on research and development activities increased to 1.2 trillion USD, accounting for at least 2, 5% of GDP in this period. Exploring the universe is one of the priorities for spending on science, according to Science.

Not only China, the US Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project also conducts many activities to detect life beyond Earth. SETI used Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, the largest telescope in the world before FAST was born with nearly double the view.