Andrew Hopkins, Ron Ekers, Carole Jackson, Lawrence Cram, Anne Green, Dick Manchester, Lister Staveley-Smith and Ray Norris, PASA, 16 (2), in press.
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Introduction
It is well established that most scientific advances follow technical innovation (e.g. Harwit 1981). De Solla Price (1963) reached the same conclusion from his application of quantitative measurement to the progress of science. His analysis also showed that the normal mode of growth of science is exponential. A plot of the sensitivity of telescopes used for radioastronomy since the discovery of extra-terrestrial radio emission in 1940 shows this exponential character (Figure 1) with an increase in sensitivity of 105 since 1940, doubling every 3 years. To maintain the extraordinary momentum of discovery of the last few decades a very large new radio telescope will be needed.
An increase in sensitivity of this order cannot be achieved by improving the electronics of receiver systems, but only by increasing the total effective collecting area of radio telescopes to about a million square metres. The project has therefore acquired the appellation, the Square Kilometre Array. The time frame during which a new radio facility is needed to complement other planned instruments will be in the years around 2010.
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