A workshop was held this week in Lonavala, India, on the topic of
Australia-India Research and Development in Radio Astronomy (ARDRA).
(Ardra is also the Sanskrit name for the region of the sky which
contains the western constellation of Orion.) The workshop recognises
that Australia and India both have rich and strong traditions of
front-line work in scientific and technical aspects of Radio
Astronomy, and that there is considerable scope for working more
closely in collaboration on several topics of mutual interest. Both
countries are contributing significantly to the construction of the
Square Kilometer Array (SKA), and have significant experience with
building, operating and pursuing science with the SKA precursors and
path-finder instruments – the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
(uGMRT) in India, and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the
Australian SKA Path-finder (ASKAP) in Australia.
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