Die Stahlkonstruktion des 500-m-Radioteleskops FAST

The Steel Construction of the 500m Radiotelescope FAST.

China is building at this time in the southern province of Guizhou the "Five-hundred meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope" FAST. It will be with its 500m diameter the largest single dish radio telescope in the world. The telescope will serve for latest state of the art astronomy, focused on the investigation of the structure of galaxies, and searching for dark energy and dark matter - issues heavily discussed in the international astronomical community. The telescope is located in a valley of a Karst region, which had by nature nearly the shape of the reflector bowl. The reflector surface consists of triangular segments of about 11 m size, which are supported by a cable net. The surface can be shaped to a paraboloid by motorized jacks in direction of the object observed on the sky. The radio receivers are located in a cabin of about 13 m size which is hanging on six ropes supported on towers outside the reflector. The receiver cabin has to be in the focus area of the actual reflector paraboloid, which is achieved be six capstan type drives at the foot of the towers. The article describes the design and construction of the reflector and the construction of the receiver cabin suspension system including the steel structure which holds everything together.