€1.5B Square Kilometre Array telescope project to be managed from UK

Nine national governmental and research organisations meeting in Rome last week agreed to establish a founding board for the €1.5 billion global Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, and to work together to secure funding for the next phase of the project to build the world’s largest telescope.

The new board announced that following a competitive bidding and review process the SKA project office will be based at the Jodrell Bank Observatory near Manchester in the UK. Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK signed the letter of intent in Rome, stating a common ambition to see the SKA built. The telescope will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope.

The SKA telescope itself will be located in either Australia–New Zealand or South Africa, with a decision on the location due to be made in 2012.

All those signing up represent organisations of national scale that will coordinate groups carrying out SKA research and development work in their respective countries. The backers say that the SKA project will drive technology development in antennas, fibre networks, signal processing, and software and computing. Spin-off innovations in these areas will benefit other systems that process large volumes of data.

It is claimed the design, construction and operation of the SKA has the potential to impact skills development in science, engineering and in associated industries not only in the host countries, but in all project partners. Further signatories are expected in the next six months.

John Womersley, chair of the founding board, said it is reassuring that so many partners have recognised the importance of supporting the SKA, given the current economic environment. “Our partners have taken this step not only because of the inspirational nature of the discoveries that the SKA will make, but also because of the economic benefits that international mega-science projects can bring to participating countries.”

The project office, which it is hoped will grow to 60 people over the next four years, will supersede the existing SKA programme development office based at Manchester University. The move to Jodrell Bank is scheduled for 1 January 2012.

Richard Schilizzi, Director of the SKA, said the move comes at a crucial time, as the project grows from a concept to an international mega-science project. “The new location and facilities will support the significant expansion that is planned.”

The square kilometre collecting area of the SKA will give 50 times the sensitivity, and 10,000 times the survey speed, of the best current-day telescopes. Thousands of receptors will extend out to distances of 3,000 km from the centre of the telescope. More than 70 institutes in 20 countries, together with industry partners, are participating in the scientific and technical design of the telescope The target construction cost is €1.50 billion and construction could start as early as 2016.