Through 2020, China is going to build a Space-and-ground Based Integrated Observational Network which will cover ground-based and space-based facilities. The information on the China Decadal Survey for Astrophysics 2020 was recently revealed by Dr ZHAO Gang, President of the Chinese Astronomical Society & Research Professor of National Astronomical Observatory (NAOC) of CAS, at the 2010 CAS Working Conference on International Cooperation in mid-October in Guizhou.

According to Dr. Zhao, the world’s largest radio telescope the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is currently under construction; China’s involvement in the Thirty Meter Telescope Project (TMT) is currently active; and the preparation for construction of China Antarctic Observatory on the Antarctic Dome A and LAMOST South in the Southern Hemisphere are well under way. Among them, the site survey for FAST has been finalized and so does the migration-relocation work. The construction is expected to start at the end of 2010. In addition, NAOC has also proposed setting up a Guizhou Radio Observatory in an effort to establish a Radio Quiet Zone in Guizhou.

As for the China Antarctic Observatory, it will be built on Antarctic Dome A which is the highest ice cap in the Antarctica which is 60 km in length and 10 km in width. This is a joint project among China, Australia, USA, France and Italy and has also been listed as a priority project in China’s Strategic Development Plan for the Polar Regions 2011-2020. It is expected that, by the end of 2011, the wide-angle telescope array will be installed by Chinese Astronomers on Dome A for observational research on dark matter, dark energy, variable stars, double stars, and extra-solar planets.

It is expected that, by 2020, breakthroughs will be made in China’s first self-made astronomical satellite, based on its accumulated experiences in the aeronautics industry and satellite payload capability, with the goal to build a Space-and-ground Integrated Observational Network which will cover ground-based facilities from inland to Antarctic Dome A areas and space-based facilities in an effort to advance China’s research ability in frontier sciences and to also raise its international profile in astronomical science.