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Unit8Engineeringtheunknown

Unitoverview

Fromundergroundlaboratorieswherescientiststrackinvisibleparticlesincompletedarkness,togiantradiotelescopesthatsearchtheskiesforsignalsfromdeepspace,bigscienceprojectsrepresentsomeoftheboldesteffortsinmoderndiscovery.Theseextraordinaryundertakings,madepossiblebyadvancedengineeringandglobalcollaboration,aimtoanswersomeofthemostprofoundquestionsaboutourworld.Here,wewillexploresomebigscienceprojects,amongwhichtwoofChina’smostambitiousscientificventures–theFive-hundred-meterApertureSphericalradioTelescope(FAST)andtheJiangmenUndergroundNeutrinoObservatory(JUNO).Theseprojectshighlighttheimmensescale,complexity,andteamworkrequiredin“bigscience”–atypeofresearchthatspansmanyyears,involvesmultipledisciplines,andreliesonsubstantialinvestment.Throughthisjourney,wewilldiscoverhowengineeringdrivesscientificbreakthroughsandconsiderthebroadersignificanceandfutureoflarge-scalescientificexploration.

Viewingthroughthelens

Backgroundinformation

FASTislocatedinGuizhouProvince,China,andistheworld’slargestandmostsensitiveradiotelescope.Completedin2016,itplaysakeyroleinastronomy,includingthesearchforpulsarsandpotentialextraterrestrialsignals.FAST’sinnovativeengineering–includingacable-suspendedreceivercabinanddeformabledish–enablesprecisioncontrolacrossitsenormoussurface.

Scripts

Theworld’slargestsingle-dishradiotelescope

N=Narrator;Z=ZhuMing

N:DeepinGuizhouProvinceofsouthwestChina,engineershavecreatedthemostpowerfultoolinspaceexploration.

Scientistswantedtocreatetheworld’slargesttelescopetocarryonourglobalquesttounderstandwhat’soutthereintheuniverse.Andthatmeanttheyneededtocreateahugedish.

Z:Signalsfromtheuniverseareextremelyweak.Andso,youneedalargecollectinga