Chongqing- Why did the dinosaurs die out? Where did life on the Earth come from? All these mysteries are related to asteroids. The construction of an asteroid monitoring device named the "China Compound Eye" is now speeding up in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

On July 8, the Beijing Institute of Technology Chongqing Innovation Center signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chongqing Yunyang District People's Government. The two will jointly construct the ultra-large distributed aperture radar high-resolution deep space active observation facility pre-research project, which is expected to have an operating range of 150 million kilometers.

According to the Beijing Institute of Technology Chongqing Innovation Center, it will become the world's most extended detection range radar and the world's first deep space radar with three-dimensional imaging and deformation monitoring.

This radar will provide high-resolution observations of main-belt asteroids, spacecraft, moon, Venus, Mars, and other Earth-like planets, as well as deep airspace targets such as Jupiter satellites with high resolution, meeting the primary national needs such as near-earth asteroid defense and space situational perception. It will also be used for frontier scientific and technological innovation research such as earth habitability and planetary formation.

Establish a near-earth asteroid defense system 

"Why do we pay so much attention to asteroids? Because many mysteries of the Earth are related to them," said Long Teng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and headmaster of Beijing Institute of Technology. "There is a theory that asteroids hitting the Earth brought the most primitive life here." 

Asteroids hitting the Earth can also threaten the planet's security, including human beings, which concerns all countries. On April 24, known as China Space Day, China began establishing a near-Earth asteroid defense system, contributing to protecting the Earth and human security, according to the China National Space Administration. 

Long said that the cislunar space is a new field that humans will explore in the future. Observing the situation in the cislunar space requires developing large-scale radars. After Tianwen-1 landed on Mars, Tianwen-2 needed to choose an asteroid and formulate large-scale radars.

"Our Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is called the 'China Sky Eye,' and we provide a vivid name to this radar as the 'China Compound Eye,'" said Long, introducing that the compound eye of insects is a visual organ composed of an indefinite number of tiny eyes. They use many small antennas to synthesize a large antenna to form the world's most extended detection distance radar.

"Asteroids cannot be seen with radio telescopes," said Long. "Only when we actively emit electromagnetic waves can we see asteroids." Unlike the "China Sky Eye," the "China Compound Eye" emits and receives electromagnetic waves. That is, it emits electromagnetic waves and receives echoes from asteroids so that it can see the asteroids.

To be the world's capital of asteroid research

On the one hand, the project's site selection needs stable geological and meteorological conditions, according to Long. Through field research and historical data analysis, Yunyang District possesses excellent conditions.

On the other hand, the Beijing Institute of Technology has established in-depth cooperation with Chongqing in scientific research with a series of achievements. 

This time, the Beijing Institute of Technology signed the contract with Yunyang District to carry out further multi-field cooperation on joint construction of scientific and technological innovation platforms, astronomy towns, disaster prevention and mitigation, and strengthening talent training and exchange.

Long introduced that the project's second phase can observe asteroids millions of kilometers away. After the radar is completed, Long believes that Chongqing will become the world's capital of asteroid research.

He continued that after the project lands in Yunyang, it will integrate geology, astronomy, aerospace, ecotourism, mass data application, and development for construction. Aiming to achieve international cooperation and exchange, it will strive to build a national and world-class scientific research, science popularization, and scientific innovation center. 

(Ge Rongchen, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)