Articles
RSS SubscribeWednesday 16th June 2010
Australia and the Netherlands working closely together on SKA
by DIISR
Australia and the Netherlands will work closely together on vital technology for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – the world’s most powerful radio-telescope and one of the most ambitious science projects ever undertaken by the international community.
Australia’s CSIRO has signed a Statement of Intent with ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, to cooperate on developing and testing technology that will ultimately make the SKA possible.
Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, welcomed the new partnership.
“The SKA is a global project and this Statement of Intent between CSIRO and ASTRON is an example of the cooperation needed to bring such a monumental undertaking to fruition,” Senator Carr said.
“Science – and particularly astronomy – reaches across national boundaries and we are proud of the leading role that Australia plays in the international community.
“We are working closely with other countries to develop the technology that will allow the best astronomers from around the world to work together on fundamental questions about the evolution of the universe.
“CSIRO and ASTRON will be working on phased array feeds – receivers with many separate, simultaneous beams for detecting radio waves – which have the potential to give telescopes a much wider field-of-view.”
The technology will initially be used on the first six antennas of the Australian SKA Pathfinder radio-telescope, due to be completed in early 2011 at Murchison in Western Australia.
The SKA is an international project involving 20 countries. It has an estimated construction cost of €1.5 billion and a total whole-of-life operating cost of €9 billion ($13 billion).
A joint bid by Australia and New Zealand has been shortlisted to host the SKA. The other shortlisted site is in Southern Africa.
