China unveils radio telescope for space observation

China unveiled a giant radio telescope Sunday which would be used in space observation. The telescope, at the foot of Sheshan mountain in Shanghai, will be used to track and collect data from satellites and space probes, Shanghai Daily reported.

The Chang'e 2 radio telescope (image credit: Wikipedia)

It can pick up eight different frequency bands and also track earth satellites, lunar exploration satellites and deep space probes, said Hong Xiaoyu, head of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory.

"We hope that the new radio telescope will go into operation earlier so that we can use it to observe the unmanned lunar probe Chang'e-2," said Wu Weiren, chief designer of the lunar orbiter project.

Chang'e 2 was launched Oct 1, 2010.

IANS