• China is officially launching a giant radio telescope soon, known in English as FAST.

• FAST, which studies radio waves emanating from space, already discovered two pulsars in 2017, and has found over 100 possible pulsars since.

• Most recently, FAST has discovered a series of mysterious repeating radio signals known as FRBs. Scientists don't know where they come from, but they suspect a black hole.

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), a project that the Chinese government first began planning in 2008, is now fully operational. By the end of September 2019, the $171 million USD (1.2 billion CNY) FAST project will undergo a last review process, which the Chinese government anticipates will give the go signal to begin studying the skies.

"We fully expect a successful review at the national level, and then we'll transition from being a construction project to a full facility," says Li Di, FAST's chief scientist and leader of the radio astronomy division of the National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), in a press statement.

"Once we pass this review, FAST becomes an accepted telescope for exploring the Universe," says Jiang Peng, FAST's chief engineer and deputy director of FAST Operation and Development Center, NAOC. "FAST has been open to Chinese astronomers since April 2019. After the National Construction Acceptance, it will be open to astronomers across the world."

This final review will make sure that FAST meets the specifications first laid out back in 2008. The surface of the radio telescope is made up of 445o triangular panels, 36 feet on each side, which altogether take the shape of a geodesic dome.

While under construction, FAST has already made some discoveries. In 2017 scientists using FAST were able to discover two pulsars—remnants of massive stars. Since then, scientists working with FAST have discovered 130 new pulsar candidates, 93 of which were confirmed with other radio telescopes.

"Our goal is to catch up," Li says. "And eventually have hundreds of new discoveries every year."