The SKA project moves forward

The launch of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research is a boost to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project.

With New Zealand now joining Australia in the international bid for the world’s largest radio telescope project, the centre will draw together astronomers from around the world to drive the research aims of the SKA.

The impact of this project and its potential cannot be overestimated. But it will need the commitment of governments and scientists, for decades and, perhaps, generations, not just the next few years of the political cycle, said Prof Peter Quinn, director, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

The design and construction of the SKA radio telescope will create a single scientific machine capable of studying the first objects to shine in the universe, the very beginnings of the cosmic avalanche of growth that resulted in mankind some 13 billion years later.

The strengths of the Australia-NZ position are threefold. One, we have, in Western Australia, one of the world’s best radio astronomy sites - the ‘radio-quiet’ Midwest region. The agreement with New Zealand means the antennas and other devices could span from WA to New Zealand, substantially increasing the clarity of the radio images produced.

Two, the world’s best radio survey telescope (the Australian SKA pathfinder or ASKAP) will be built on that site by CSIRO using $110 million in federal funding. ASKAP will be operational in 2012.

Three, two major international centres will be built to support the project.

The $80 million federally funded Pawsey Centre for High Performance Computing and SKA Science will handle the vast amounts of data to be generated by the Australian SKA Pathfinder and other telescopes on the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory.

In its first six hours, the ASKAP is expected to generate more data than all the other radio telescopes in the world combined. The SKA produces more data per day than is produced by the entire population of plant Earth each year.

ICRAR will ensure Australia is leading international research efforts, will enhance our nation’s scientific reputation, enable the development of leading technologies and have positive financial benefits for Australia.

The SKA is a project for the future. It will take more than 15 years to build and will be the leading edge of radio astronomy for the next 50 years, beyond the term of governments and even the future of our children.

The SKA will have up to 4000 antennas spread over a 5000 km baseline to create a single deep space listening device.

Most will be concentrated in outback Western Australia, along with a series of remote ‘array stations’ positioned in a spiral configuration radiating out over thousands of kilometres.

Array stations in New Zealand will see the baseline of the SKA extend from 3000 to 5000 km. This will result in an almost doubling of the telescope’s resolution.

Astronomers worldwide are now working hard on the SKA project. We need to raise the funds, design the facility, perfect the radio technology and work with industry to build a new scale of computing and data resources.

Reprinted from UWA News

The first ASKAP 12 m antenna has passed factory testing.

Australia Telescope National Facility staff travelled to China to undertake factory acceptance testing.

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) is an international collaborative centre in astronomical science and engineering. As a coherent and unified part of Australia’s national effort, ICRAR is contributing to the realisation and scientific success of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

ICRAR will provide opportunities to grow new skills in WA, to develop industrial capabilities and to provide motivation and excitement in the education of teachers, students and the community at large.

Research focus will be on the scientific capabilities enabled by the SKA, the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP), the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the technologies necessary for these scientific capabilities.

ICRAR is a joint venture between the University of Western Australia and Curtin University of Technology.

Meanwhile, Dr Philip Diamond has been appointed chief of CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Sciences Division.

As director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester in England, Dr Diamond led the strategic research and management of the facility.

His role has also included coordination of PrepSKA, the important Preparatory Phase study for the $2.5 billion international SKA project.