CSIRO's first six ASKAP antennas constructed

15 October 2010

CSIRO’s Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (or ASKAP) project continues to progress to schedule, with five new antennas constructed at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) during the months of September and October, 2010.

The five new antennas bring the total number of ASKAP antennas now standing at the MRO site to six, with the first ASKAP antenna successfully built and trialled earlier in the year.

All 36 ASKAP antennas are being constructed at the MRO by their manufacturer - the 54th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (known as CETC54), with CSIRO’s ASKAP team and local contractors also assisting with the antenna build.

The antennas are first built and tested in China by CETC54, with the antenna sections then disassembled, shipped to Australia and then reassembled on site.

Ant Schinckel, CSIRO ASKAP Project Director, is particularly pleased with recent antenna activity, highlighting the significant success of reflector accuracy which the CETC54 team has been able to achieve upon re-assembly of the shipped antenna.

He notes, "a surface accuracy of <0.6 mm has been achieved with no site adjustments necessary to the panel alignments which is a tremendous result: it means that antennas built in the factory can be rebuilt on site quickly and reliably."

These first six ASKAP antennas will form BETA (the Boolardy Engineering Test Array) once they are kitted out with PAFs (Phased Array Feeds), receivers and digital backends. BETA is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2011.

By the end of 2011, all 36 antennas should be built, with the full ASKAP system expected to be completed by 2013.

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