Perched at the top of a mountain, the China-Argentina Radio Telescope (CART) has been described as a celestial “lighthouse” for Earth’s southern sky. Once operational, the largest single dish telescope in Latin America is expected to reveal new insights about stellar formations, objects such as pulsars and the distant centre of our galaxy.

However, construction which was set to be completed by next March has been delayed since June after an international agreement was not renewed, leaving components shipped from China held up by Argentine customs.

Marcelo Segura, project manager of CART at the National Science and Technical Research Council (CONICET), told the South China Morning Post that the council had stopped supporting the project.

“This has given us problems accessing the cargo that has been retained by Argentine customs since September 3,” Segura said.

“As a result, we have been unable to assemble the remaining pieces. Everything is hanging by a thread,” said the electric engineer, who has been working on the CART project since 2015.

“We have not received any official communication. There is a national government alignment with the United States which reportedly opposes the proliferation of such projects involving Chinese facilities in our country.”