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16 April 2008
Scientists and engineers from around the world met in Australia last week (7-11th April 2008) to kick off the preparatory phase for the biggest project ever undertaken in radio astronomy. The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing facility and will probe some of the biggest questions in the Universe, including searching for earth-like planets and potential life, looking at the first objects in the Universe, testing theories of gravity and examining the mystery of dark energy.
South Africa is one of only two countries (the other one is Australia) on the shortlist for constructing this huge radio telescope.
The SKA has been identified by the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) in its 2006 Roadmap for research infrastructures of pan-European relevance. The corresponding Preparatory Phase project, called PrepSKA, will now pave the way for the SKA, with a three year programme to draw together international efforts from around the world to finalise a detailed, costed technical design and to develop the governance and legal framework for the project. PrepSKA will also conduct additional studies of the short-listed sites being considered for the SKA, in Australia and South Africa.
The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is the co-ordinator for PrepSKA and has appointed Professor Phil Diamond of the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics to lead this activity. Professor Diamond said “PrepSKA is an extremely important programme of work to pave the way for construction of the SKA. The SKA will take us on an incredible journey of scientific discovery, PrepSKA is the final planning phase, checking our route and making sure everyone has their passport.”
The PrepSKA collaboration initially involves 24 organisations from 12 countries, including: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.
PrepSKA is a €22 million programme, with €5.5 million from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and further funding provided by the participating countries. PrepSKA starts in April 2008 and runs until 2011.
Prof John Womersley, Director of Science Programmes at STFC said "The Square Kilometre Array has the potential to be one of the most exciting global endeavours in science, changing the way radio astronomy is done. The PrepSKA project is a vital preparation stage that will allow the interested partners to bring together their different approaches and priorities and lay the groundwork for a world-class programme."
Once PrepSKA is complete, there should be an agreed design for the largest array of radio antennas ever built, allowing interested countries to decide on their involvement with the final SKA project.
SKA Facts
Building work is due to start in 2013, subject to successful funding proposals. The SKA will be constructed in a phased manner over a seven year period. Operations should start in 2015 once a significant portion of the array has been commissioned. The array will be constructed of ~4000 antennas spread with a total collecting area of a square kilometre. The antennas will be distributed in ~200 ‘stations' spread over ~3000 km. The location of the array is still to be decided, with Australia and South Africa both on the short-list.
South Africa and the SKA
The South Africa in report showing concrete progress was very well received by the nearly 200 delegates at the SKA Forum in Perth on 10 April. The Forum included the international funding agencies which will fund the SKA, as well as astronomers, industrialists and government officials from many countries. If South Africa wins the bid to site the SKA, the core of the telescope (consisting of approximately 3000 antennas) will be located in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape Province, approximately 95km north-west of Carnarvon. The other antenna stations will be distributed throughout South Africa and a number of African countries.
In 2004 South Africa began on the design, development and construction of the MeerKAT, an SKA pathfinder telescope. The MeerKAT is a South African initiative and has been designed by South Africans in collaboration with the best universities and institutes in the world, including Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, Berkeley, Caltech, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy ASTRON and others. It is intended to be a world-leading centimetre-wave radio telescope for many years. The MeerKAT will consist of up to 80 x 12 m antennas (the number of antennas which can be built is subject to cost). It will be located at the site selected for the SKA and is due for completion and commissioning by the end of 2012. The development of the MeerKAT is taking place in phases to optimise the design of the telescope and reduce the risk at each stage. It is designed to maximize the scientific output. A 15m prototype antenna has been constructed at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory in Gauteng from composite materials. This is the first large antenna in the world to be manufactured from composites. Tests on this antenna have improved the design and an optimized 12m antenna will be constructed for a seven dish array to be constructed in the Karoo by the end of 2009. The final phase will see the construction of the array of up to eighty dishes by 2012. The land for the site has been procured and road and power infrastructure is being constructed.
As a result of the knowledge and experience gained in the design and construction of the MeerKAT, South Africa will play a leading role in many of the work packages of the PrepSKA study.
Enquiries: Kim de Boer, Tel: +27 (0)11 442 2434, Email: kdeboer@ska.ac.za
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