Will a key hearing restart the China-Argentina telescope stalled by politics?

After months of delays resulting from a bureaucratic tangle and possible US opposition, a multimillion-dollar China-Argentina radio telescope project could be moving ahead.

Scientists involved with the China-Argentina Radio Telescope (CART) said essential parts shipped from China that had been held up at Argentine customs since September 3 could soon be released. However, academics have suggested that more political leverage will be needed to overcome US opposition to the project.

CART is expected to play a key role in an international instrument network, working in coordination with the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China’s southwest province of Guizhou and the ALMA telescope array in northern Chile.

The trouble began when an international agreement between Argentina’s National Astronomical Observatory of China (NAOC), the National University of San Juan (UNSJ) and Argentina’s National Science and Technical Research Council (CONICET) was not renewed.

The UNSJ met with Argentina’s customs authorities on November 5 in a bid to have the cargo released.

“It was an auspicious meeting because they listened to us, and they will focus on ensuring the project’s continuation,” Pablo Diez, UNSJ’s secretary of science and technology, who was at the hearing, told the South China Morning Post.

South China Morning Post