2012: a memorable year for ASKAP

An aerial view of a red desert landscape (the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory), with scattered white dish-like antennas joined by connecting dirt roads.
A long exposure image of a white dish-like ASKAP antenna at night, with a green receiver at the top of the antenna, and a tall telehandler next the antenna. Credit: Alex Cherney/terrastro.com.
Two men (Max Voronkov and Juan Carlos Guzman) wearing blue CSIRO shirts standing in front of a marquee decorated with a blue banner that says 'ASKAP Opening Ceremony, 5 October 2012'.

21 December 2012

It's been an eventful year for the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) project, with the successful delivery of a number of major components highlighting key milestones achieved throughout the year.

CSIRO's ASKAP Project Director Ant Schinckel says that these highlights reflect ASKAP's incredible potential to be a world-leading survey radio telescope, and are testament to the incredible effort the team has dedicated to the project throughout the year.

"We saw one of the biggest single events in the development and construction of ASKAP when we achieved phase closure with multiple phased array receivers," he says, "Our belief in chequerboard PAFs has been validated and we are now just catching a glimpse of their potential contributions to our astronomy knowledge."

Just some of these major goals include:

  • Completion of the assembly of all 36 ASKAP antennas on site at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), with initial holographic tests showing exceptional accuracy

  • Completion of major MRO infrastructure, including the new RFI-compliant MRO Control Building, 36 kilometres of access roads and tracks, power and data infrastructure, antenna foundations and a high speed optical fibre connection

  • Construction of the new MRO Support Facility (MSF) in Geraldton

  • Advancement in the ASKAP Design Enhancement program, to improve efficiency and performance of the telescope across the ASKAP band

  • Memorable celebrations for the ASKAP and the MRO Opening Ceremony, marking the end of the construction phase, and

  • Validation of chequerboard PAF receivers and digital beamformers for radio astronomy through successful phase closure tests between three PAFs installed on ASKAP antennas

Now, the team looks forward to 2013, as the ASKAP project moves steadily into the engineering and scientific commissioning phases of development.

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