- First of more than 130,000 Square Kilometre Array (SKA) antennas in place
- Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) is one of the largest scientific endeavours to be undertaken
- State Government working in partnership with the CSIRO on the SKA
Activation of the world’s largest telescope has takenanother significant step forward with the first of more than 130,000 antennas being installed on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the State’s Mid West.
Field technicians have begun work on positioning the Christmas tree-shaped antennas across the 74km observatory site on Wajarri Yamaji Country in the Murchison area.
The technicians, seven of whom are from the Wajarri Yamaji community, are the first employees hired by Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) organisation and CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, to start work on installing the antennas on site.
The SKA is one of the largest scientific endeavours ever undertaken in the earth’s history.
An international collaboration of 16 countries, the SKAO will be the largest science facility on Earth, combining sister telescope sites in Australia and South Africa.
The SKA involves the construction of telescopes 10 times more sensitive and faster at surveying galaxies than any current technologies.
Western Australia will host the SKA-Low telescope, comprising more than 130,000 low-frequency antennas, at the existing Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, located around 300km northeast of Geraldton.
One of the biggest contracts in Australia for SKA construction, outside infrastructure and software was awarded to Myaree based company AVI. First developed by Curtin University engineers at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), AVI will build up to 12,000 ‘SMART boxes’ for the entire fit-out of the SKA-Low telescope.
The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre (Pawsey) and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research are key local scientific research facilities providing integral support to the SKA project, both of which are supported by the WA Government.
For more information on the SKA project, please visit: https://www.ska.gov.au/
As stated by Premier Roger Cook:
“SKA-Low will be the world’s largest low-frequency radio telescope, and today we are one step closer with Western Australia being front and centre in supporting a better understanding of the universe.
“The State Government has worked closely with the SKAO and CSIRO, who are delivering this exciting project.
“Critical components utilised by each and every one of the antennas are being manufactured right here in Western Australia, which has created more jobs in the state.
“It’s also great news that most of the new technicians on the project are from the Wajarri Yamaji community, whose support has been instrumental in making this come to fruition.”
As stated by Acting Science Minister David Templeman:
“This is a huge moment not only for astronomy in Australia, but also the wider scientific community, as through the SKA we will look deeper into the universe than ever before.
“We are proud that Western Australia is central to the nation’s international collaboration of 16 countries, which is bound to have a global impact on our understanding of the universe.
“We are committed to working closely with the Wajarri Yamaji community and our federal counterparts to make sure the benefits of this project are delivered at home and abroad.”
