UK invests in SKA

The United Kingdom Government has announced that it will invest more than £100 million ($185 million) in the construction phase of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The project is a billion-dollar global initiative to build the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope in Western Australia and southern Africa. Ten member countries are collaborating to deliver the SKA, with more than 350 scientists and engineers from 100 institutions involved.

UK Science Minister David Willetts and the full SKA board at the SKA Organisation Headquarters at Jodrell Bank Observatory, after announcing £100m in funding from the UK for the SKA telescope. Credit: SKA Organisation.

UK Science Minister David Willetts said the telescope will produce 10 times the current global traffic of the internet, leading to new opportunities for Britain in data analysis.

“After the International Space Station and the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s next great science project is the Square Kilometre Array,” said Willetts.

WA Premier and Science Minister Colin Barnett welcomed the funding, saying it “shows the tremendous international commitment to this exciting mega science project” and “is great news for WA scientists”.

“We have built a world-leading radioastronomy base here in the state and our scientists are poised to use this groundbreaking research facility to make new discoveries about our universe,” he said.

Under the current schedule for the project, funding for construction of Phase 1 is due to be confirmed by 2016, with start of construction expected in 2018 and early science expected to start in 2020. Willetts’ announcement secures a significant portion of the construction budget for Phase 1.