ASKAP and the SKA
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be a revolutionary radio telescope made of thousands of receptors linked together across an area the size of a continent. It will drive progress in fields such as information and communication technology, high performance computing and production manufacturing.
A combination of unprecedented collecting area, versatility and sensitivity will make the SKA the world’s premier imaging and survey telescope over a wide range of radio frequencies, producing the sharpest pictures of the sky of any telescope.
The effort to realise the SKA is a collaboration between institutions in 20 countries (including Australia, New Zealand, countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America), led by an international science and engineering committee and a jointly-funded SKA Program Development Office. The cost of the telescope (about A$2.5 billion) will be shared by the participating countries.
SKA Location
The international astronomy community has identified two potential locations for the SKA: Australia – New Zealand and southern Africa. A final decision on the location of the SKA is expected to be made in 2012.ASKAP Leading to the SKA
ASKAP will pioneer and test revolutionary new technologies in areas of electrical engineering, digital systems, computing and signal transport. Key results and techniques generated through the development of ASKAP will contribute to the international SKA design and development effort.The remarkably radio-quiet Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), in the Mid West region of Western Australia, is Australia and New Zealand’s candidate site for the central ‘core’ of antennas that will make up the SKA. ASKAP will showcase the outstanding characteristics of the MRO site and the potential for the SKA to be located in Australia and New Zealand.
ASKAP will also trial ‘green energy’ power generation systems that will be relevant to the much larger SKA project.
Further Information
- Official Australia – New Zealand SKA (anzSKA) website
- International SKA Program Development Office website