The sky in China looks very big, because this spherical radio telescope is 500 meters wide and is called the largest spherical radio telescope in the world. Anyone who sees this telescope should know that it looks completely different from the telescope we imagined, just like a cauldron with its mouth facing upwards, receiving signals from the extraterrestrial world. Will this cauldron be full in the once-in-a-century rainstorm? How on earth does it drain water?
There are at least three reasons why the "500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST)" will not be filled with heavy rain:
First, the location is special!
Many people know that the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) is located in the mountainous area of Guizhou, but why is it located in Dawodang depression in the south of Kedu town, Guizhou? In fact, before the construction of the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST), 12 families lived here. The old man who has lived there for decades once said that he never thought that such an amazing telescope would be built here.
This "Big Mac" radio telescope happens to be located in Dawodang depression, and karst caves, sinkholes, karst funnels and sinkholes are the main components of this depression. Perhaps few people know that the bottom of this depression is the core of the underground river and has always been regarded by geologists as an excellent place to study lava funnels and underground rivers.
Simply put, the location of the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) is not just a mountain or a high mountain. This large depression naturally has good drainage lines and special karst geological conditions in the local area. During the rainstorm, the rainwater will directly seep into the ground and flow into the underground river, instead of damaging the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) after accumulating on the surface as you think. Moreover, the researchers also considered the radio interference when choosing the construction site. Dawodang has the advantage of being unaffected by the weather and having no radio around.
Second, the cable net structure!
Although, when we look at the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) from a distance, it really looks like a cauldron with a flat inside, but the time-cable net structure adopted by the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) is also one of the biggest technical difficulties in its construction. The 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) has a diameter of 500 meters, but all of them adopt discontinuous design and grid division. This project involves 2225 main cable nodes and 6670 main cables, and the weight of these cable nets alone exceeds 1.300 tons.
To put it simply, when the rainstorm is pouring down, the cauldron of the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) is not airtight, but it will feel like "drawing water with a sieve". Because, in fact, the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) is full of small holes, even small holes. For example, it looks like a sieve. If water is poured into a sieve, it will not naturally accumulate, and so will the structural design of the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST). This cauldron can't accumulate water at all, let alone drown.
Third: unique drainage system!
Imagine how a national project costing hundreds of millions and lasting more than 20 years could not have envisaged extreme weather. In fact, when determining the construction geology of the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST), the researchers not only carefully surveyed the local topography and hydrology, but also designed a special drainage channel.
Although the depression itself is not easy to accumulate water, the designer has built a special drainage system to ensure that the drainage will not be affected during the rainstorm. The most important part of this drainage system is a tunnel 1000 meters long. With drainage tunnels, there are bottom ditches, roadside ditches, circumferential ditches, radial ditches and energy dissipation pools. Naturally, it is impossible for the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) to accumulate water due to the rainstorm, even if it is a once-in-a-century rainstorm.
In a word, the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) invested heavily by China will not be flooded by heavy rain. Moreover, this special telescope does not look with "eyes" but listen with "ears" when searching for cosmic signals, so its appearance is very different from that of traditional telescopes. As of June165438+1October, 240 pulsars have been discovered by the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST), which will play an important role in the search for aliens. Let's wait and see!