World’s biggest radio telescope and first-ever quantum satellite: China’s top 5 scientific plans for 2016

This is due to be ready by September. With a single dish measuring about 30 soccer fields in area nestled in the remote mountains of Guizhou province, the five-hundred-metre aperture spherical telescope (FAST) will not only grant access to hitherto unseen parts of the cosmos, but also pick up extremely faint radio signals generated by intelligent life in outer space if it reaches out to make contact. China is also building one of the world’s first astronomical computers to power the giant, alien-seeking telescope.

The launch of the world’s first quantum satellite in June will thrust mankind into the quantum age, and pave the way for new leaps in spook-proof communications. The satellite will establish an unbreakable communication link and offer global coverage. Relevant quantum teleportation experiments will spur the development of quantum computers that could be tens of billions times faster those in use today, which would have profound military, economic and political implications.