Engineers and scientists gather for SKA Engineering Meeting
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September 2014
Some 300 engineers and scientists from 15 countries have travelled to Fremantle, Western Australia, to take part in a global overview of the status, progress and way forward for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in terms of engineering and management. It is the largest gathering of people working on the SKA ever organised.
The official proceedings were opened this morning by the Honourable Colin Barnett, Premier of Western Australia, in the presence of the SKA Organisation Director General, Professor Philip Diamond, as well as the US Consul General, the Dutch Consul General and other officials.
"This is a very important week for the SKA Project. We have achieved a lot in the last year as we will see in the updates but a lot remains to be done and this is why we're here, to refine the design of the SKA and make it a reality. We're entering a very important phase of the project," said Professor Diamond.
Two days of talks presenting updates on all aspects of the project, from governance to precursor telescopes progress, design of the various elements of the SKA and science priorities will set the stage for two days of working meetings to discuss detailed aspects of the telescope's design.
The SKA Project is now in the pre-construction phase with 11 consortia carrying out design work to enable the project to enter the construction phase in 2017-2018. These consortia are spread across the globe and are constituted from a variety of institutes and commercial companies. Each consortium has been tasked with designing a specific element of the SKA telescope, from computing to infrastructure and antenna design.
CSIRO is involved in 7 of these 11 consortia, in particular as a lead of the Dish and Infrastructure Australia consortia and as a key partner in the Assembly, Integration and Verification Consortium.
The 2014 Engineering Meeting opens an important period for the SKA, with an upcoming preliminary design review, which will look closely at the designs brought forward by the various consortia for the element they're responsible of. The design review will also look closely at the detailed cost estimates calculated by the consortia for the SKA's first phase of construction, and will work to make these costs fit inside the allocated envelope of EUR 650 million for phase 1, while at the same time ensuring the telescope delivers groundbreaking science.
There will be a range of special events during the week, including the inauguration of the SKA’s international Shared Sky art/astronomy exhibition, bringing art works from indigenous and local artists of Western Australia and South Africa together for the first time around the theme of a shared sky.
For more information on the SKA Engineering Meeting, follow along the conversation on Twitter using #SKAEngCon2014.
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