Construction on what will be the world’s biggest telescope is about to begin. Ceremonies in Australia and South Africa marked the inauguration of the construction phase of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), a giant radio telescope that will link new observing equipment in the two countries to function as one large receiver. Its initial architecture will include nearly 200 parabolic antennas and 131,000 dipole antennas, which look like Christmas trees.
The operating frequencies will range from 50 MHz to 25 GHz, allowing the observation of radio emissions with wavelengths from centimeters to meters in size.
Scientists are excited about the telescope’s ability to trace out the history of hydrogen in the universe, and to examine such phenomena as “fast radio bursts” that emit enormous amounts of energy over fractions of a second.
The first major milestone, following decades of work in planning, device design, and land acquisition / treaty organization, will come in 2024, when four receivers in Australia and six in South Africa will work in tandem as a single telescope.
By 2028, the telescope will have an effective area of 500,000 square meters, half the final desired size of one square kilometer.
The international project includes South Africa, Australia, the U.K. (where the computers performing analysis will be located), China, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland. Other nations are also seeking to join: Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Sweden have all expressed interest.
