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The SKA project
South Africa is ready to host the world's most powerful radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in southern Africa. Following an initial identification of sites suitable for the SKA by
the International SKA Steering Committee in 2006, southern Africa and Australia are the finalists. A consortium of the major international science funding agencies, in consultation with the SKA
Science and Engineering Committee (SSEC), will announce the selected site for the SKA in 2012.
At about 50 – 100 times more sensitive than
any other radio telescope on Earth, the SKA will
be able to probe the edges of our Universe. It
will help us to answer fundamental questions in
astronomy, physics and cosmology, including the
nature of dark energy and dark matter. It will be
a powerful time machine that scientists will use
to go back in time to explore the origins of the
first galaxies, stars and planets. If there is life
somewhere else in the Universe, the SKA will
help us find it.
The construction of the SKA is expected to
cost about 1.5 billion Euro. The operations and
maintenance of a large telescope normally cost
about 10% of the capital costs per year. That
means the international SKA consortium would be
spending approximately 100 to 150 million Euro
per year on the telescope. It is expected that a
significant portion of the capital, operations and
maintenance costs would be spent in the host
country. South Africa offers a competitive and
affordable solution for constructing, operating and
maintaining the SKA.
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