Dual site agreed for Square Kilometre Array telescope

[Osirisra (Ken)]

Great news!


25 May 2012, Amsterdam, the Netherlands – The Members of the SKA Organisation today agreed on a dual site solution for the Square Kilometre Array telescope, a crucial step towards building the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope.
The ASKAP and MeerKAT precursor dishes will be incorporated into Phase I of the SKA which will deliver more science and will maximise on investments already made by both Australia and South Africa.
The majority of the members were in favour of a dual-site implementation model for SKA. The members noted the report from the SKA Site Advisory Committee that both sites were well suited to hosting the SKA and that the report provided justification for the relative advantages and disadvantages of both locations, but that they identified Southern Africa as the preferred site. The members also received advice from the working group set up to look at dual site options.
The majority of SKA dishes in Phase 1 will be built in South Africa, combined with MeerKAT. Further SKA dishes will be added to the ASKAP array in Australia. All the dishes and the mid frequency aperture arrays for Phase II of the SKA will be built in Southern Africa while the low frequency aperture array antennas for Phase I and II will be built in Australia / New Zealand.
“This hugely important step for the project allows us to progress the design and prepare for the construction phase of the telescope. The SKA will transform our view of the Universe; with it we will see back to the moments after the Big Bang and discover previously unexplored parts of the cosmos.” says Dr Michiel van Haarlem, Interim Director General of the SKA Organisation.
The SKA will enable astronomers to glimpse the formation and evolution of the very first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, investigate the nature of gravity, and possibly even discover life beyond Earth.
“Today we are a stage closer to achieving our goal of building the SKA. This position was reached after very careful consideration of information gathered from extensive investigations at both candidate sites,” said Professor John Womersley, Chair of the SKA Board of Directors. “I would like to thank all those involved in the site selection process for the tremendous work they have put in to enable us to reach this point.”
Factors taken into account during the site selection process included levels of radio frequency interference, the long term sustainability of a radio quiet zone, the physical characteristics of the site, long distance data network connectivity, the operating and infrastructure costs as well as the political and working environment.
The agreement was reached by the Members of the SKA Organisation who did not bid to host the SKA (Canada, China, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). The Office of the SKA Organisation will now lead a detailed definition period to clarify the implementation.
Scientists and engineers from around the world, together with industry partners, are participating in the SKA project which is driving technology development in antennas, data transport, software and computing, and power. The influence of the SKA project extends beyond radio astronomy. The design, construction and operation of the SKA have the potential to impact skills development, employment and economic growth in science, engineering and associated industries, not only in the host countries but in all partner countries.
About the SKA
The Square Kilometre Array will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The total collecting area will be approximately one square kilometre giving 50 times the sensitivity, and 10 000 times the survey speed, of the best current-day telescopes. Thousands of receptors will extend to distances of 3 000 km from the centre of the telescope, the SKA will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the big bang, how dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the Universe, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth. The target construction cost is €1,500 million and construction of Phase 1 of the SKA is scheduled to start in 2016. The SKA Organisation, with its headquarters in Manchester UK, was established in December 2011 as a not-for-profit company in order to formalise relationships between the international partners and centralise the leadership of the project.

[gary]

Story also in SMH

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci...525-1zauh.html

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Oh well, a slight anti climax but better than nothing lets hope they don't change their minds before stage two

Mike

[rogerg (Roger)]

Sounds to me like they have really chosen South Africa but it would have been scientific death for Australia if they said it definitively was not going to be here.

Choosing one directly over the other would have left the location that lost out fighting harder than ever to get investment from their government. Reading the details it certainly seems we will be luck to get much on the ground here in Australia by the time it all actually happens, but they have left the door open for support

[gary]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Oh well, a slight anti climax but better than nothing lets hope they don't change their minds before stage two

Mike

Hi Mike,

According to the official SKA Members Statement, Australia and New Zealand
will host all the low frequency receivers for both stage 1 (what is known as SKA1)
and stage 2 (aka SKA2).

See http://www.skatelescope.org/news/ska...eting-25-2012/

As I posted here -
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...3&postcount=10
there were two major science goals that drove the SKA design and the first of them
was to understand the history and role of neutral hydrogen.

Now neutral hydrogen is detected at 1.42 GHz but it gets red-shifted.

In order to make discoveries out at distances of z=3, you need to be making observations at 350 MHz.

And who will host the antennas capable of that? Australia and New Zealand.
What some cosmologists might regard as the "really interesting part".

However, to get a complete picture, they want to take "slices" for various values
of z, so that is where both the South African and Australian efforts really combine
to achieve this. You need the South African antennas for the low z stuff and the
Australian and New Zealand antennas for the high z stuff.

Plus we have ASKAP with all 36 antennas planned to be constructed by the end
of this month.

So there has been an incredible amount of expenditure to date within Australia on the project and the first science papers have already been published.

[astroron (Ron)]

Hi Gary, Thanks for all the info you are posting on the SKA
It makes it so easier to follow what is happening and puts things into perspective
The ASCAP site is another place for me to visit on my next trip over the West
Cheers

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by gary

Hi Mike,

According to the official SKA Members Statement, Australia and New Zealand
will host all the low frequency receivers for both stage 1 (what is known as SKA1)
and stage 2 (aka SKA2).

See http://www.skatelescope.org/news/ska...eting-25-2012/

As I posted here -
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...3&postcount=10
there were two major science goals that drove the SKA design and the first of them
was to understand the history and role of neutral hydrogen.

Now neutral hydrogen is detected at 1.42 GHz but it gets red-shifted.

In order to make discoveries out at distances of z=3, you need to be making observations at 350 MHz.

And who will host the antennas capable of that? Australia and New Zealand.
What some cosmologists might regard as the "really interesting part".

However, to get a complete picture, they want to take "slices" for various values
of z, so that is where both the South African and Australian efforts really combine
to achieve this. You need the South African antennas for the low z stuff and the
Australian and New Zealand antennas for the high z stuff.

Plus we have ASKAP with all 36 antennas planned to be constructed by the end
of this month.

So there has been an incredible amount of expenditure to date within Australia on the project and the first science papers have already been published.

Yeh after I posted, I read it again and elsewhere and realised this, so perhaps I don't need to be so pessimistic

Propabably an even better project now

Mike