It was formed in 1962 from the merger of the Xujiahui (also romanized as "Ziikawei") and Sheshan (Zose) observatories in Shanghai. It was involved with the Chang'e 1 Moon mission as the VLBI array is used for position determinations.
In October 2012 the Tian Ma 65-meter (213ft) radio telescope was completed for SHAO.[1] It is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.