Square Kilometre Array

Summary

30°43′16″S 21°24′40″E / 30.72111°S 21.41111°E / -30.72111; 21.41111

Square Kilometre Array
Artist's impression
Alternative namesSKA Edit this at Wikidata
Named aftersquare kilometre, antenna array Edit this on Wikidata
Location(s)Meerkat National Park, South Africa and Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, Australia
Coordinates30°43′16″S 21°24′40″E / 30.72111°S 21.41111°E / -30.72111; 21.41111 and 26°41′49.3″S 116°37′52.6″E / 26.697028°S 116.631278°E / -26.697028; 116.631278
Built2018–2024 (2018–2024) Edit this at Wikidata
First light2027 (projected)
Telescope stylephased array Edit this on Wikidata
Collecting area1 km2 (11,000,000 sq ft) Edit this at Wikidata
Websitewww.skao.int Edit this at Wikidata
  Related media on Commons

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), and headquarters, are located at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the United Kingdom. The SKA cores are being built in the southern hemisphere, where the view of the Milky Way galaxy is the best and radio interference is at its least.

Conceived in the 1990s, and further developed and designed by the late-2010s, when completed sometime in the 2020s it will have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre. It will operate over a wide range of frequencies and its size will make it 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument. If built as planned, it should be able to survey the sky more than ten thousand times faster than before. With receiving stations extending out to a distance of at least 3,000 km (1,900 mi) from a concentrated central core, it will exploit radio astronomy's ability to provide the highest-resolution images in all astronomy.

The SKAO consortium was founded in Rome in March 2019 by seven initial member countries, with several others subsequently joining; as of 2021 there were 14 members of the consortium. This international organisation is tasked with building and operating the facility. The project has two phases of construction: the current SKA1, commonly just called SKA, and a possible later significantly enlarged phase sometimes called SKA2. The construction phase of the project began on 5 December 2022 in both South Africa and Australia.

History

edit

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) was originally conceived in 1991 with an international working group set up in 1993. This led to the signing of the first Memorandum of Agreement in 2000.[1]

In the early days of planning, China vied to host the SKA, proposing to build several large dishes in the natural limestone depressions (karst) that dimple its southwestern provinces; China called their proposal Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope (KARST).[2][3]

Australia's first radio quiet zone was established by the Australian Communications and Media Authority on 11 April 2005 specifically to protect and maintain the current "radio-quietness" of the main Australian SKA site at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory.[4]

The project has two phases of construction: the current SKA1, commonly just called SKA, and a possible later significantly enlarged phase sometimes called SKA2.[5] PrepSKA commenced in 2008, leading to a full SKA design in 2012. Construction of Phase 1 was scheduled to take place from 2018 to 2020,[needs update] providing an operational array, with Phase 2 completion in 2025.[citation needed]

 
The SKA headquarters at Jodrell Bank, with the Lovell Telescope in the background

In April 2011, Jodrell Bank Observatory of the University of Manchester, in Cheshire, England was announced as the location for the project headquarters.[6] In November 2011, the SKA Organisation was formed as an intergovernmental organisation[7] and the project moved from a collaboration to an independent, not for profit, company.[8]

In February 2012, a former Australian SKA Committee[clarification needed] chairman raised concerns with South African media about risks at the Australian candidate site, particularly in terms of cost, mining interference and land agreements. SKA Australia stated that all points had been addressed in the site bid.[9] In March 2012 it was reported that the SKA Site Advisory Committee had made a confidential report in February that the South African bid was stronger.[10] However a scientific working group was set up to explore possible implementation options of the two candidate host regions,[11] and on 25 May 2012 it was announced that it had been determined that the SKA would be split over the South African and African sites, and the Australia and New Zealand sites.[12] While New Zealand remained a member of the SKA Organisation in 2014, it appeared that no SKA infrastructure was likely to be located in New Zealand.[13]

In April 2015, the headquarters of the SKA project were chosen to be located at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK,[14][15] officially opened in July 2019.[citation needed]

Initial construction contracts began in 2018. Scientific observations with the fully completed array are not expected any earlier than 2027.[16][17]

On 12 March 2019, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) was founded in Rome by seven initial member countries: Australia, China, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom. India and Sweden are expected to follow shortly, and eight other countries have expressed interest to join in the future. This international organisation was tasked with building and operating the facility, with the first construction contracts expected to be awarded in late 2020.[needs update][18]

By mid-2019, the start of scientific observations were expected to start no earlier than 2027.[16] In July 2019, New Zealand withdrew from the project.[16]

As of November 2020, five precursor facilities were already operating: MeerKAT and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) in South Africa, the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia and the International LOFAR Telescope, spread across Europe with a core in the Netherlands.[19]

The construction phase of the project began on 5 December 2022 in Australia and South Africa, with delegations from each of the eight countries leading the project attending ceremonies to celebrate the event.[20] The Australian part of the project comprises 100,000 antennas built across 74 km (46 mi), also in the Murchison region, in the traditional lands of the Wajarri Aboriginal people. Bulldozers were expected to start working on the site in early 2023,[needs update] with the completion date estimated as 2028. The site has been named Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, which means 'sharing sky and stars' in the Wajarri language.[21]

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in India and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are investigating the possibility of establishing supercomputing facilities to handle data from the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. The UK and India are part of the team developing the computational processing for the SKA radio telescope.[22] On 3 January 2024, Indian government approved joining the SKA project accompanied by a financial commitment of ₹1,250 crore which marks the initial step towards ratification as a member state.[23]

Description

edit
 
Countries that participated in the preparatory phase of SKA[24]

The SKA will combine the signals received from thousands of small antennas spread over a distance of several thousand kilometres to simulate a single giant radio telescope capable of extremely high sensitivity and angular resolution, using a technique called aperture synthesis.[25] Some of the sub-arrays of the SKA will also have a very large field-of-view (FOV), making it possible to survey very large areas of sky at once.[26] One innovative development is the use of focal-plane arrays using phased-array technology to provide multiple FOVs.[27] This will greatly increase the survey speed of the SKA and enable several users to observe different pieces of the sky simultaneously, which is useful for (e.g.) monitoring multiple pulsars. The combination of a very large FOV with high sensitivity means that the SKA will be able to compile extremely large surveys of the sky considerably faster than any other telescope.[28]

The combined SKA will provide a wide range of coverage, with Australia's Murchison Widefield Array providing low-frequency coverage and South Africa's MeerKAT providing mid-frequency coverage.[29][30][5] There will be continuous frequency coverage from 50 MHz to 14 GHz in the first two phases of its construction.

  • Phase 1: Providing ~10% of the total collecting area at low and mid frequencies by 2023 (SKA1).[31]
  • Phase 2: Completion of the full array (SKA2) at low and mid frequencies by 2030.[32]

The frequency range from 50 MHz to 14 GHz, spanning more than two decades, cannot be realised using one design of antenna and so the SKA will comprise separate sub-arrays of different types of antenna elements that will make up the SKA-low, SKA-mid and survey arrays:

 
Artist's impression of a Low-Band SKA Sparse Aperture Array Station
 
Artist's impression of a SKA Dense Aperture Array Station
  1. SKA-low array: a phased array of simple dipole antennas to cover the frequency range from 50 to 350 MHz. These will be grouped in 40 m diameter stations each containing 256 vertically oriented dual-polarisation dipole elements.[33] Stations will be arranged with 75% located within a 2 km diameter core and the remaining stations situated on three spiral arms, extending out to a radius of 50 km.[34]
  2. SKA-mid array: an array of several thousand dish antennas (around 200 to be built in Phase 1) to cover the frequency range 350 MHz to 14 GHz. It is expected that the antenna design will follow that of the Allen Telescope Array using an offset Gregorian design having a height of 15 metres and a width of 12 metres.[31][35]
  3. SKA-survey array: a compact array of parabolic dishes of 12–15 meters diameter each for the medium-frequency range, each equipped with a multi-beam, phased array feed with a large field of view and several receiving systems covering about 350 MHz – 4 GHz. The survey sub-array was removed from the SKA1 specification following a "rebaselining" exercise in 2015.[36]

The area covered by the SKA – extending out to ~3000 km – will comprise three regions:[25][37]

  1. A central region containing about 5 km diameter cores of SKA-mid antennas (South Africa) and SKA-low dipoles (Western Australia). These central regions will contain approximately half of the total collecting area of the SKA arrays.
  2. A mid region extending out to 180 km. This will contain dishes and pairs of SKA-mid and SKA-low stations. In each case they will be randomly placed within the area with the density of dishes and stations falling off towards the outer part of the region.
  3. An outer region from 180 km to 3000 km. This will comprise five spiral arms, along which dishes of SKA-mid, grouped into stations of 20 dishes, will be located. The separation of the stations increases towards the outer ends of the spiral arms.

Costs

edit

The SKA was estimated to cost €1.8 billion in 2014, including €650 million for Phase 1, which represented about 10% of the planned capability of the entire telescope array.[38][39] There have been numerous delays and rising costs over the nearly 30-year history of the intergovernmental project.[16]

As of December 2022, the whole project was reported to be worth around A$3 billion.[21]

 
Square Kilometre Array Organisation (SKAO) membership map

Members

edit

In February 2021, the members of the SKAO consortium were:[8][40]

As of December 2022, there were 16 countries involved in the project.[21]

SKA locations

edit
 
An automatic wideband radio scanner system was used to survey the radio frequency noise levels at the various candidate sites in South Africa.

The headquarters of the SKA are located at the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England,[44] while the telescopes will be installed in Australia and South Africa.[45]

Suitable sites for the SKA telescope must be in unpopulated areas with guaranteed very low levels of man-made radio interference. Four sites were initially proposed in South Africa, Australia, Argentina and China.[46] After considerable site evaluation surveys, Argentina and China were dropped and the other two sites were shortlisted (with New Zealand joining the Australian bid, and 8 other African countries joining the South African bid):[47]

Australia

edit

The core site is located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) at Mileura Station near Boolardy in the state of Western Australia, 315 km (196 mi) north-east of Geraldton[48][49]

South Africa

edit

The core site is located at the Meerkat National Park, at an elevation of about 1000 metres, in the Karoo area of the arid Northern Cape Province. There are also distant stations in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.[50]

Precursors, pathfinders and design studies

edit

Many groups are working globally to develop the technology and techniques required for the SKA. Their contributions to the international SKA project are classified as either: Precursors, Pathfinders or Design Studies.

  • Precursor facility: A telescope on one of the two SKA candidate sites, carrying out SKA-related activity.
  • Pathfinder: A telescope or programme carrying out SKA-related technology, science and operations activity.
  • Design Study: A study of one or more major sub-systems of the SKA design, including the construction of prototypes

Precursor facilities

edit
 
CSIRO's ASKAP antennas at the MRO in Western Australia

Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP)

edit

The Australian SKA Pathfinder, or ASKAP, is an A$100 million project which built a telescope array of thirty-six twelve-metre dishes. It employs advanced, innovative technologies such as phased array feeds to give a wide field of view (30 square degrees). ASKAP was built by CSIRO at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site, located near Boolardy in the mid-west region of Western Australia. All 36 antennas and their technical systems were officially opened in October 2012.[51]

MeerKAT

edit
 
MeerKAT telescopes in the Meerkat National Park in the Karoo

MeerKAT is a South African project consisting of an array of sixty-four 13.5-metre diameter dishes as a world class science instrument, and was also built to help develop technology for the SKA.

KAT-7, a seven-dish engineering and science testbed instrument for MeerKAT, in the Meerkat National Park near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa was commissioned in 2012 and was up and running by May 2018 when all sixty-four 13.5-metre diameter (44.3 feet) dish antennae were completed, with verification tests then underway to ensure the instruments are functioning correctly.[52][needs update] The dishes are equipped with a number of high performance single pixel feeds to cover frequencies from 580 MHz up to 14 GHz.[53]

Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)

edit

The Murchison Widefield Array[54] is a low-frequency radio array operating in the frequency range 80–300 MHz that began upgraded operation in 2018 at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site in Western Australia.

Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA)

edit

The HERA array is located in South Africa's Meerkat National Park. It is designed to study highly redshifted atomic hydrogen emission emitted prior to, and during the epoch of reionization.

Pathfinders

edit

Allen Telescope Array

edit

The Allen Telescope Array in California uses innovative 6.1m offset Gregorian dishes equipped with wide band single feeds covering frequencies from 500 MHz to 11 GHz. The 42-element array in operation by 2017 is to be extended to 350 elements.[when?] The dish design has explored methods of low-cost manufacture.[65]

LOFAR

edit

The International LOFAR Telescope —a €150 million Dutch-led project— a novel low-frequency phased aperture array spread over northern Europe. An all-electronic telescope covering low frequencies from 10 to 240 MHz, it came online from 2009 to 2011. LOFAR was in 2017 developing crucial processing techniques for the SKA.[66][needs update]. Because of its baselines of up to 2000 km, it can make images with sub-arcsecond angular resolution over a wide field of view. Such high-resolution imaging at low frequencies is unique and will be a factor of more than an order of magnitude better than SKA1-LOW.

Design studies

edit
Data challenges of SKA pathfinders
Challenge Specifications[67]
budgeted for ASKAP
Requirements for the SKA itself are about 100 times greater.
Large bandwidth from
telescope to processor
~10 Tbit/s from antennas to correlator (< 6 km)
40 Gbit/s from correlator to processor (~ 600 km)
Large processing power 750 Tflop/s expected/budgeted
1 Pflop desired
Power consumption
of processors
1 MW at site
10 MW for processor
Pipeline processing
essential
including data validation, source extraction,
cross-identification, etc.
Storage and duration
of data
70 PB/yr if all products are kept
5 PB/yr with current funding
8 h to write 12 h of data to disk at 10 GB/s
Retrieval of data
by users
all data in public domain
accessed using VO tools & services
Data-intensive research data mining, stacking,
cross-correlation, etc.

Data challenges

edit

The amount of sensory data collected poses a huge storage problem, and will require real-time signal processing to reduce the raw data to relevant derived information. In mid 2011 it was estimated the array could generate an exabyte a day of raw data, which could be compressed to around 10 petabytes.[73] China, a founding member of the project, has designed and constructed the first prototype of the regional data processing centre. An Tao, head of the SKA group of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, stated, "It will generate data streams far beyond the total Internet traffic worldwide." The Tianhe-2 supercomputer was used in 2016 to train the software. The processing of the project will be performed on Chinese designed and manufactured[74][75] Virtex-7 processors by Xilinx, integrated into platforms by the CSIRO.[76] China has pushed for a unified beam forming design that has led other major countries to drop out of the project.[77] Canada continues to use Altera Stratix-10 processors (by Intel).[78] It is illegal for any US company to export high end Intel FPGAs or any related CSP design details or firmware to China[79] amid the US-embargo[80][81][82][83] which will severely limit cooperation.[citation needed]

Technology Development Project (TDP)

edit

The Technology Development Project, or TDP, is a US$12 million project to specifically develop dish and feed technology for the SKA. It is operated by a consortium of universities[clarification needed] and was completed in 2012.[84]

Project risks and opposition

edit

Potential risks for priority astronomical sites in South Africa are protected by the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act of 2007.[85] Put in place to specifically support the South African SKA bid, it outlaws all activities that could endanger scientific operation of core astronomical instruments. In 2010, concerns were raised over the will to enforce this law when Royal Dutch Shell applied to explore the Karoo for shale gas using hydraulic fracturing, an activity that would have the potential to increase radio interference at the site.[86]

An identified remote station location for the southern African array in Mozambique was subject to flooding and excluded from the project,[87] despite the SKA Site Selection Committee technical analysis reporting that all African remote stations could implement flood mitigation solutions.[88]

During 2014, South Africa experienced a month-long strike action by the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), which added to the delays of the installation of dishes.[89]

The largest risk to the overall project is probably its budget, which up until 2014 had not been committed.[90]

There has been opposition to the project from farmers, businesses, and individuals in South Africa since the project's inception.[91] The advocacy group called Save the Karoo has stated that the radio quiet zone would create further unemployment in the South African region where unemployment is already above 32%.[92] Farmers had stated that the agriculture-based economy in the Karoo would collapse if they were forced to sell their land.[93][94]

Key projects

edit
 
Artist's impression of the Offset Gregorian Antennas
 
Schematic of the SKA Central Region

The capabilities of the SKA will be designed to address a wide range of questions in astrophysics, fundamental physics, cosmology and particle astrophysics as well as extending the range of the observable universe. A number of key science projects that have been selected for implementation via the SKA are listed below.

Extreme tests of general relativity

edit

For almost one hundred years, Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity has precisely predicted the outcome of every experiment made to test it. Most of these tests, including the most stringent ones, have been carried out using radio astronomical measurements. By using pulsars as cosmic gravitational wave detectors, or timing pulsars found orbiting black holes, astronomers will be able to examine the limits of general relativity such as the behaviour of spacetime in regions of extremely curved space. The goal is to reveal whether Einstein was correct in his description of space, time and gravity, or whether alternatives to general relativity are needed to account for these phenomena.

Galaxies, cosmology, dark matter and dark energy

edit

The sensitivity of the SKA in the 21 cm hydrogen line will map a billion galaxies out to the edge of the observable Universe. The large-scale structure of the cosmos thus revealed will give constraints to determine the processes resulting in galaxy formation and evolution. Imaging hydrogen throughout the Universe will provide a three-dimensional picture of the first ripples of structure that formed individual galaxies and clusters. This may also allow the measurement of effects hypothetically caused by dark energy and causing the increasing rate of expansion of the universe.[95]

The cosmological measurements enabled by SKA galaxy surveys include testing models of dark energy,[96] gravity,[97] the primordial universe,[98] and fundamental cosmology,[99] and they are summarised in a series of papers available online.[100][101][102][103]

Epoch of re-ionization

edit

The SKA is intended to provide observational data from the so-called Dark Ages (between 300,000 years after the Big Bang when the universe became cool enough for hydrogen to become neutral and decouple from radiation) and the time of First Light (a billion years later when young galaxies are seen to form for the first time and hydrogen becomes ionized again). By observing the primordial distribution of gas, the SKA should be able to see how the Universe gradually lit up as its stars and galaxies formed and then evolved. This period of the Dark Ages, culminating in First Light, is considered the first chapter in the cosmic story of creation, and the resolving power required to see this event is the reason for the Square Kilometre Array's design. To see back to First Light requires a telescope 100 times more powerful than the biggest radio telescopes currently in the world, taking up 1 million square metres of collecting area, or one square kilometre.[104]

Cosmic magnetism

edit

It is still not possible to answer basic questions about the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetic fields, but it is clear that they are an important component of interstellar and intergalactic space. By mapping the effects of magnetism on the radiation from very distant galaxies, the SKA will investigate the form of cosmic magnetism and the role it has played in the evolving Universe.

Search for extraterrestrial life

edit

This key science program, called "Cradle of Life", will focus on three objectives: observing protoplanetary discs in habitable zones, searching for prebiotic chemistry, and contributing to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).[105]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "SKA Timeline - SKA UK".
  2. ^ Nan, R.; et al. (16 June 2002). "Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope—KARST" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2016.
  3. ^ Su, Yan; et al. (February 2003). "An Optimal Design of Array Configuration of KARST for SKA" (PDF). Acta Astronomica Sinica. 44: 31. Bibcode:2003AcASn..44S..31S. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Planning for the radio astronomy service". Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b "SKA Telescope specifications". SKAO. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Jodrell Bank chosen as base for largest radio telescope". BBC News. 2 April 2011. Archived from the original on 3 April 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  7. ^ "First country has approved participation in constructing the largest telescope the world has ever known". 20 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b "The organisation". SKA Organisation. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  9. ^ Carpenter, Avery (22 February 2012). "Oz telescope body under microscope after ex-chairman raises difficult questions". The Star. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  10. ^ Flitton, Daniel (10 March 2012). "Australia on the outer for largest space telescope". The Age. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  11. ^ "Further delays signalled in super-telescope plan". The Australian. AFP. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  12. ^ Amos, Jonathan (25 May 2012). "Africa and Australasia to share Square Kilometre Array". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  13. ^ "Australia - SKA Telescope". SKA. 2014. Archived from the original on 15 June 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  14. ^ "The SKA Organisation". SKA Organisation. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  15. ^ UK to be giant telescope's HQ Archived 2 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Jonathan Amos, BBC News. 29 April 2015.
  16. ^ a b c d "New Zealand pulls out of the Square Kilometre Array after benefits questioned". Physics World. IOP Publishing. 4 July 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  17. ^ Technical information: the operational model (SKA, 2 August 2018)
  18. ^ "Founding Members Sign SKA Observatory Treaty" (Press release). Square Kilometre Array Organisation. 12 March 2019. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  19. ^ "Precursors and Pathfinders". Square Kilometre Array. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  20. ^ Amos, Jonathan (5 December 2022). "SKA: Construction to begin on world's biggest telescope". BBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  21. ^ a b c Clifford, Rachael (5 December 2022). "Square Kilometre Array Telescope construction begins in West Australian outback". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  22. ^ "UK, India Scientists To Collaborate In Astronomy, Bio-Imaging". NDTV.com. 18 October 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  23. ^ Marar, Anjali (3 January 2024). "Another eye in sky, on ground: India is now part of world's largest radio telescope project". The Indian Express. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  24. ^ "Participating countries". SKA Organisation.
  25. ^ a b "The SKA Layout". SKA Telescope. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  26. ^ "The World's Largest Radio Telescope Takes A Major Step Towards Construction". SKA Science. 9 March 2015. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  27. ^ "SKA Aperture Arrays". SKA Telescope. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  28. ^ "How will SKA1 be better than today's best radio telescopes? [image]". SKA Telescope. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  29. ^ "Facts and figures". SKA Organisation. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  30. ^ Spie (2014). "Philip Diamond plenary: The Square Kilometre Array: A Physics Machine for the 21st Century". SPIE Newsroom. doi:10.1117/2.3201407.12.
  31. ^ a b "SKA1". SKA Science. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  32. ^ "SKA2". SKA Science. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  33. ^ "Developing technologies for SKA-Low". Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  34. ^ "Low-Frequency Aperture Array". Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  35. ^ "Square Kilometre Array Project - Rau's IAS". compass.rauias.com. 3 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  36. ^ McPherson, A. "REPORT AND OPTIONS FOR RE-BASELINING OF SKA-1" (PDF). SKA Telescope. SKAO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  37. ^ Dewdney, P. E. "SKA Baseline Design" (PDF). SKA Telescope. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  38. ^ "The project timeline". SKA Organisation. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  39. ^ "SKA site bid outcome". SKA Africa. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  40. ^ "Germany joins the SKA Organisation". 20 December 2012. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013.
  41. ^ "India's National Centre for Radio Astrophysics becomes the 11th full SKA Organisation member". SKA Organisation. 11 August 2014. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  42. ^ Desk, DH Web. "Explained | Square Kilometre Array project, world's largest radio telescope, and India's role in it". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 4 January 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  43. ^ "Spain joins the SKA Organisation - SKA Telescope". SKA Telescope. 19 June 2018. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  44. ^ "Construction starts on SKA Organisation headquarters". SKA Organisation. 18 April 2012. Archived from the original on 19 May 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  45. ^ Co-hosting the SKA Archived 11 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine. SKA
  46. ^ Koenig, Robert (18 August 2006). "RADIO ASTRONOMY: Candidate Sites for World's Largest Telescope Face First Big Hurdle". Science. 313 (5789). AAAS: 910–912. doi:10.1126/science.313.5789.910. PMID 16917038. S2CID 42969567.
  47. ^ "SA's bid to host Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Radio Telescope: briefing by Department & SKA Project Team | PMG". pmg.org.za. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  48. ^ Amos, J. Nations vie for giant telescope Archived 29 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 28 September 2006.
  49. ^ Science Network WA, 16 February 2007 Archived 27 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  50. ^ "The Square Kilometre Array (SKA)". Quest. 8 (3): 3 – via Sabinet.
  51. ^ Osborne, Darren (5 October 2012). "Outback observatory open for business - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. Abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  52. ^ Tshangela, Lebo (16 May 2018). "MeerKAT telescope is complete". SABC News. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  53. ^ "SKA SA – Square Kilometre Array radio telescope (SKA) South Africa". Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  54. ^ "MWA - Home". www.mwatelescope.org. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  55. ^ Tom Osterloo; Marc Verheijen & Wim van Cappellen (10–14 June 2010). The latest on Apertif (PDF). ISKAF2010 Science Meeting. arXiv:1007.5141. Bibcode:2010iska.meetE..43O. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  56. ^ Aerospace-Technology.com Archived 15 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  57. ^ "Electronic Multi Beam Radio Astronomy ConcEpt". Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  58. ^ Beswick, Rob. "e-MERLIN / VLBI National Radio Astronomy Facility - e-MERLIN". Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  59. ^ "Expanded VLA". Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  60. ^ "Long Wavelength Array". Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  61. ^ Gaensler, Bryan. "Sydney Institute for Astronomy - The University of Sydney". Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  62. ^ "NENUFAR website". Archived from the original on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  63. ^ "French NenuFAR telescope granted SKA Pathfinder status - SKA Telescope". 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  64. ^ "India's GMRT telescope granted SKA pathfinder status". SKA Telescope Public Website. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  65. ^ "The Allen Telescope Array - SETI Institute". Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  66. ^ "LOFAR - LOFAR". Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  67. ^ Ray P. Norris (7 January 2011). 2010 Sixth IEEE International Conference on e-Science Workshops: Data Challenges for Next-generation Radio Telescopes. p. 21. arXiv:1101.1355. doi:10.1109/eScienceW.2010.13. ISBN 978-1-4244-8988-6. S2CID 34645164.
  68. ^ "The Square Kilometre Array - SKA-AAVP". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  69. ^ "Home - SKA". Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  70. ^ "PrepSKA". Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  71. ^ "SKADS Technology". SKADS. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  72. ^ "EMBRACE". ASTRON. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  73. ^ "SKA telescope to generate more data than entire Internet in 2020". Computerworld. IDG Communications. 7 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  74. ^ "Taiwan's TSMC says chip shipments to Huawei not affected by U.S. ban". Reuters. 23 May 2019. China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd are not affected by U.S. action aimed at curbing the telecom equipment maker's access to American technology.
  75. ^ "Xilinx Powers Huawei FPGA Accelerated Cloud Server". 6 September 2017. Huawei has chosen high performance Virtex® UltraScale+™ FPGAs to power their first FP1 instance as part of a new accelerated cloud service.
  76. ^ Kooistra, E.; Hampson, G. A.; Gunst, A. W.; Bunton, J. D.; Schoonderbeek, G. W.; Brown, A. (2017). "Gemini FPGA Hardware Platform for the SKA Low Correlator and Beamformer". 2017 XXXIInd General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI GASS). pp. 1–4. doi:10.23919/URSIGASS.2017.8104976. ISBN 978-90-825987-0-4. S2CID 35235341.
  77. ^ John Bunton (10 February 2017). "The SKA LOW correlator design challenge" (PDF). CSIRO. p. 30. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  78. ^ McNamara, Dan (15 May 2018). "Intel FPGAs: Accelerating the Future". Intel. Canada's NRC is helping to build the next-generation Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope...NRC's design embeds Intel® Stratix® 10 SX FPGAs
  79. ^ "Electronic Code of Federal Regulations: PART 121—THE UNITED STATES MUNITIONS LIST". 22 August 2019. 16) Hybrid (combined analogue/digital) computers specially designed for modeling, simulation, or design integration of systems enumerated in paragraphs (a)(1), (d)(1), (d)(2), (h)(1), (h)(2), (h)(4), (h)(8), and (h)(9) of USML Category IV or paragraphs (a)(5), (a)(6), or (a)(13) of USML Category VIII (MT if for rockets, SLVs, missiles, drones, or UAVs capable of delivering a payload of at least 500 kg to a range of at least 300 km or their subsystems. See note 2 to paragraph (a)(3)(xxix) of this category);""Analog-to-digital converters, usable in the system in Item 1, having either of the following characteristics: (1) Analog-to-digital converter "microcircuits", which are "radiation hardened" or have all of the following characteristics: (i) Having a resolution of 8 bits or more;" "Item 1—Category I Complete rocket systems (including ballistic missile systems, space launch vehicles, and sounding rockets (see §121.1, Cat. IV(a) and (b))) and unmanned air vehicle systems (including cruise missile systems, see §121.1, Cat. VIII (a), target drones and reconnaissance drones (see §121.1, Cat. VIII (a))) capable of delivering at least a 500 kg payload to a range of at least 300 km.
  80. ^ "Overview of Cryptography and the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012". Department of Defense(Australia). Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  81. ^ "Australian Export Controls and ICT". Department of Defense(Australia). Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  82. ^ "Politics, not security, behind Huawei, ZTE allegations, say analysts". 8 October 2012.
  83. ^ Kan, Michael (9 April 2015). "U.S. stops Intel from selling Xeon chips to Chinese supercomputer projects". Computerworld.
  84. ^ Chatterjee, Shami. "Welcome to the SKA TDP Website". Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  85. ^ "Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act". South African Radio Astronomy Observatory - SARAO. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  86. ^ Nordling, Linda (22 March 2011). "Mining plans pose threat to South African astronomy site". Nature. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  87. ^ "Mozambique: Exact Location of SKA Telescope Sought". AllAfrica. 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 23 August 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  88. ^ "Report and Recommendation of the SKA Site Advisory Committee (SSAC)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  89. ^ Butoi, Mario (7 November 2014). "October 2014 - Strike delays SKA Dish Installations". Mail & Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  90. ^ "SKA Project". SKA Organisation. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  91. ^ "Astronomers and sheep farmers butt heads over the Square Kilometer Array". The Economist. 5 January 2017. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  92. ^ "Save the Karoo". savethekaroo.com/. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  93. ^ Sarah, Wild (22 June 2016). "In South Africa, Opposition Flares against Giant SKA Radio Telescope". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  94. ^ Wild, Sarah (23 June 2016). "Giant SKA telescope rattles South African community". Nature. 534 (7608): 444–446. Bibcode:2016Natur.534..444W. doi:10.1038/534444a. PMID 27337317. S2CID 4451534.
  95. ^ "Galaxy Evolution, Cosmology And Dark Energy – Further Information". Skatelescope.org. 25 May 2012. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012.
  96. ^ Bull, Phil; Camera, Stefano; Raccanelli, Alvise; Blake, Chris; Ferreira, Pedro; Santos, Mario; Schwarz, Dominik J. (2015). "Measuring baryon acoustic oscillations with future SKA surveys". Proceedings of Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array — PoS(AASKA14). Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (Aaska14). p. 024. arXiv:1501.04088. Bibcode:2015aska.confE..24B. doi:10.22323/1.215.0024. S2CID 55195638.
  97. ^ Raccanelli, Alvise; Bull, Phil; Camera, Stefano; Blake, Chris; Ferreira, Pedro; Maartens, Roy; Santos, Mario; Bull, Philip; Bacon, D. J.; Doré, Olivier; Ferreira, Pedro; Santos, Mario G.; Viel, Matteo; Zhao, Gong-Bo (2015). "Measuring redshift-space distortion with future SKA surveys". Proceedings of Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array — PoS(AASKA14). Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (Aaska14). arXiv.org. p. 31. arXiv:1501.03821. Bibcode:2015aska.confE..31R. doi:10.22323/1.215.0031. hdl:2318/1790152. S2CID 54072202.
  98. ^ Camera, Stefano; Raccanelli, Alvise; Bull, Phil; Bertacca, Daniele; Chen, Xuelei; Ferreira, Pedro; Kunz, Martin; Maartens, Roy; Mao, Yi; Santos, Mario; Shapiro, Paul R.; Viel, Matteo; Xu, Yidong (2015). "Cosmology on the Largest Scales with the SKA". Proceedings of Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array — PoS(AASKA14). p. 025. arXiv:1501.03851. doi:10.22323/1.215.0025. S2CID 59136297.
  99. ^ Schwarz, Dominik J.; Bacon, D. J.; Chen, Song; Clarkson, Chris; Huterer, Dragan; Kunz, Martin; Maartens, Roy; Raccanelli, Alvise; Rubart, Matthias; Starck, Jean-Luc (2015). "Testing foundations of modern cosmology with SKA all-sky surveys". Proceedings of Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array — PoS(AASKA14). Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (Aaska14). arXiv.org. p. 32. arXiv:1501.03820. Bibcode:2015aska.confE..32S. doi:10.22323/1.215.0032. S2CID 17895596.
  100. ^ Maartens, Roy; Abdalla, Filipe B.; Jarvis, Matt; Santos, Mario G. (2015). "Cosmology with the SKA -- overview". arXiv:1501.04076 [astro-ph.CO].
  101. ^ Santos, Mario; Bull, Phil; Alonso, David; Camera, Stefano; Ferreira, Pedro; Bernardi, Gianni; Maartens, Roy; Viel, Matteo; Villaescusa-Navarro, Francisco; Abdalla, Filipe Batoni; Jarvis, Matt; Metcalf, R. Benton; Pourtsidou, Alkistis; Wolz, Laura (2015). "Cosmology from a SKA HI intensity mapping survey". Proceedings of Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array — PoS(AASKA14). Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (Aaska14). Vol. 14, no. 2015. p. 19. arXiv:1501.03989. Bibcode:2015aska.confE..19S. doi:10.22323/1.215.0019. S2CID 55246221.
  102. ^ Abdalla, Filipe Batoni; Bull, Philip; Camera, Stefano; Benoit Levy, Aurelien; Joachimi, Benjamin; Kirk, Donnacha; Kloeckner, Hans Rainer; Maartens, Roy; Raccanelli, Alvise; Santos, Mario G.; Zhao, Gong-Bo (2015). "Cosmology from HI galaxy surveys with the SKA". Proceedings of Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array — PoS(AASKA14). Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (Aaska14). p. 17. arXiv:1501.04035. Bibcode:2015aska.confE..17A. doi:10.22323/1.215.0017. S2CID 29623186.
  103. ^ Jarvis, Matt; Bacon, D. J.; Blake, Chris; Brown, Michael L.; Lindsay, Sam; Raccanelli, Alvise; Santos, Mario; Schwarz, Dominik J. (2015). "Cosmology with SKA Radio Continuum Surveys". Proceedings of Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array — PoS(AASKA14). Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (Aaska14). p. 18. arXiv:1501.03825. Bibcode:2015aska.confE..18J. doi:10.22323/1.215.0018. S2CID 55630081.
  104. ^ RiAus (2011). "Radio Astronomy: Something Kinda Awesome, (SKA)"". Archived from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  105. ^ The Square Kilometre Array Project Description for Astro 2010 Archived 24 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine -Response to Program Prioritization Panels. James Cordes. 1 April 2009.
  106. ^ a b c d e SKA - Cradle Of Life Archived 15 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine. T.J.W. Lazio, J.C. Tarter, D.J. Wilner. 2004.
  107. ^ Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy Archived 26 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine - Cradle of Life. April 2015.
edit

International

  • SKA website
  • SKA on Scholarpedia

Australia/NZ

  • SKA Australia web site
  • "Inside the Square Kilometre Array", Cosmos magazine online, January 2012
  • "The Square Kilometre Array Category", The Conversation, 2011/12
  • "Australian SKA Planning Office Newsletter". CSIRO. 10 April 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2007.
  • Boolardy Station and the Murchison Radio-Astronomy Observatory (MRO) – University of Western Australia
  • Photographs from the Boolardy site, June 2010
  • A Trojan Affair Archived 23 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine - Novel about the SKA

Canada

  • Canadian SKA Consortium web site

Europe

  • SKA Design Studies web site Archived 30 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine

South Africa

  • SKA South Africa web site

Other

  • Merrifield, Michael; Crowther, Paul. "Where to Build The Square Kilometre Array?". Deep Space Videos. Brady Haran.
  •   Media related to Square Kilometre Array at Wikimedia Commons