Last week, the SKA Organisation's Board of Directors in Manchester, U.K. agreed to continue with the final pre-construction phase of the world's largest radio telescope. The first phase of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project (a large array of telescopes) has been defined, according to a press release by the SKA Organization.
Two arrays will be constructed in the €650M (approximately $705,900,009 U.S.) phase - one in Australia and one in South Africa.
"I was impressed by the strong support from the board and the momentum to take the project forward," said Philip Diamond, director general of the SKA Organisation, according to the press release. "The SKA will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. We are talking about a facility that will be many times better than anything else out there."
The project is still in the design phase. Eleven nations are contributing: Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. South Africa will host about 200 parabolic antennas or dishes - a larger version of a domestic satellite dish - and Australia will host more than 100,000 "dipole" antennas, which resemble domestic TV aerials.
"Thanks to these two complementary instruments, we will address a broad range of exciting science, such as observing pulsars and black holes to detect the gravitational waves predicted by Einstein, testing gravity, and looking for signatures of life in the galaxy," Science Director of the SKA Organisation Robert Braun said, according to the press release. "We will also observe one of the last unexplored periods in the history of our universe -- the epoch of re-ionization -- looking back to the first billion years of the universe at a time when the first stars and galaxies are forming."
The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, a telescope already operating in western Australia, will be incorporated into the SKA project as well as Phased Array Feeds (PAFs) and the South African MeerKAT telescope.
"This will build on South Africa's considerable investment in science and in particular radio astronomy, it's something we can rightly be very proud of," Director General of the South African Department of Science and Technology Phil Mjwara said, according to the press release. "Being involved in this exciting global science project spanning two continents alongside our Australian colleagues and colleagues from around the world is great for the country and for the African continent."
"The Australian astronomical community are delighted to be working with their colleagues from around the world in one of the most thrilling science endeavors of the 21st century," Australia's SKA Director Brian Boyle said, according to the press release. "This outcome recognizes the confidence the global community has placed in the world-class observatory we have built in Western Australia and the leading-edge radio-astronomy technology Australia has developed for the pathfinder telescopes located there."
"The next step is to work with the SKA partner countries to develop an international organization before the start of the construction in 2018," Chair of the SKA Board of Directors John Womersley said, according to the press release. "This incredible telescope has a design, it is within budget, construction is around the corner, it will drive technology development in the era of Big Data, and it is going to deliver Nobel prize-winning science. In short, it will have an invaluable impact on society like very few enterprises before it."
