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Bold innovation Yao Rui, the researcher behind FAST's feed cabin, said that at the
age of 28, two years after joining the team, she was tasked with
creating the "pupil" of the "Sky Eye", a cabin that would be suspended
140 meters above the instrument's reflective surface. Yao spent the next two years traveling between Beijing and
Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, to attend workshops and meetings on the
project. Some of her most challenging tasks involved downsizing the cabin's
weight from 34 to 30 metric tons, while preserving most of the internal
systems and leaving enough room to fill it with as much intricate and
sensitive equipment as possible. Yao's solution was to change the frame of the cabin from a
cylindrical to a diamond-shaped structure. The redesign was bold and
almost seemed counterintuitive, but later testing revealed that it
worked perfectly. "Encountering a problem is the least of my worries, because wherever
there is a problem, there is an opportunity to conduct further
research," she said. "As a young scientist, I am lucky to align my
personal passions with the needs of the nation, so I can improve and
grow together with the country." Sun Jinghai, 38, said he had spent the last 15 years at FAST
perfecting and protecting the giant machine. This ranged from creating
new control systems to installing lightning protection equipment on the
telescope's six supporting towers. Nan often stressed that FAST not only needed to be precise and
sensitive in its applications, but it should also be beautiful to look
at. "He expected nothing less of an instrument of national
significance," Sun said. "I devoted 15 years to FAST, and, in return, FAST helped me grow,
expanded my knowledge and expertise, and rewarded me with confidence as I
overcame numerous obstacles and setbacks," he added.
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