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South China Morning Post

All eyes on China-Brazil radio telescope mission to explore dark energy

Although scientists cannot fully explain it, dark energy is likely to compose around 68 per cent of the cosmos, according to Nasa. It is a repulsive, or antigravity, force that is causing the universe to expand. BINGO is short for 'baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) from integrated neutral gas observations'. By measuring these sound waves, scientists hope to better understand the large-scale structure of the universe and discover more about dark energy. The remote location – nearly 2,000km (1,240 miles) from the capital Brasilia – was chosen for its low radio frequency interference, according to a 2019 article by the BINGO collaboration, the multinational project spearheaded by Brazil and China. The main structure of the radio telescope is expected to arrive in the hilly hinterland of Paraíba state on the Brazilian east coast in about two months and will be one of the largest of its kind in Latin America when completed in 2026. A major space science cooperation project between China and Brazil is entering its last pre-commission stages, with the departure of what will be an Olympic pool-sized telescope from the northern Chinese port of Tianjin on Monday. The first plans for BINGO, which aims to further the world's knowledge of dark energy, date back to 2011. The scientists are seeking to understand the possible connection to dark matter – a little-understood and, as of now, undetectable part of space that seems to have no interaction with light or the electromagnetic field, but makes up 27 per cent of the universe and holds galaxies together. The telescope's 40 metre (131 feet) long single radio dish will have two reflectors, 28 antennas – also called horns and what makes the instrument unique – as well as receivers and an analyser. BINGO's principal investigator, Carlos Alexandre Wuensche de Souza, senior scientist at the Astrophysics Division at INPE, the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil, was involved in the design and development of the horns. 'We have many, many horns looking at the same region in the sky, so we collect more data and can connect this data in an easier way. When you can cover a large region of space at the same time, you get more sensitivity,' he said. Researchers from China and Brazil are the main collaborators in the project, but scientists from Britain, France, Germany, South Africa and other countries have all been involved at some point in BINGO. 'The Chinese are very good to work with,' Wuensche said, pointing to the expertise in science and logistics that the project's partners from China bring to the table. If we can have good results, maybe we can tell some new things about dark energy Carlos Alexandre Wuensche de Souza, senior scientist Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that the main design and processing of the telescope were completed by Chinese experts. Wu Yang, senior engineer from the 54th Research Institute of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) and a core member of the BINGO project, told CCTV that the telescope's design was intended to simplify installation in Brazil. The Chinese researchers adopted a combination of panels and spatial truss structures to facilitate efficient installation and mass production, Wu said. CETC and scientists from multiple Chinese universities were involved in the telescope's surface and steel structure design and manufacturing process, with the project led by Elcio Abdalla, a professor at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. The telescope will also be able to detect movement of celestial bodies and allow scientists to study fast radio bursts – brief blasts of radio waves with massive energy output – and similar phenomena. 'We do not know what causes them, we do not know the model to explain why they are so bright, so intense and so short in time,' Wuensche said. Through the data collected with the telescope, he and his team may understand more of the physics behind them. Wuensche has high expectations of what the telescope could make possible. 'If it's well measured, if we can have good results, maybe we can tell some new things about dark energy,' he said. 'This would be a good contribution. This would be on the news.' Passionate about science? Dive deeper with the Dark Matters newsletter, a weekly in-depth analysis on China's rise in science, technology and military that goes beneath the surface. Sign up for free now. Advertisement