Giant radio telescope to reach even farther

China will finish upgrading the world's largest single-dish radio telescope next month to help scientists discover more stellar objects that are unique and farther from Earth, according to a project insider.

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, known as FAST, has had more precise and efficient signal receivers installed, said Liu Oufei, deputy chief engineer of the telescope's receiver and terminal systems.

The upgrade includes a more advanced 19-beam receiver system to replace the current single-beam receiver, which was easier to calibrate and test when FAST was launched in 2016, he said.