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About SKANZ
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project,
with a target budget of €1.3 billion (about NZ$2.4 billion), is a
collaboration between institutions representing 17 countries to
establish the world’s largest telescope. Not just one giant radio
telescope but a set of thousands of antennas. This vast spread of radio
receivers, 100 times more sensitive than the most powerful currently in
existence, will be capable of far greater penetration into the depths
of the universe.
The
potential for exciting new discoveries on the origins of our universe is
set to revolutionise astronomy, physics and many other areas of
science. Such is its importance that it is being hailed as the greatest
scientific project of the 21st Century.
Find
out how you can be involved with the SKA project by visiting our
Industry Working Group Page
On
the 28th September it was announced by the International
Steering Committee that Australia and South Africa have been short
listed as the countries to host the SKA. Both have identified suitable
radio quiet, sparsely populated, barren sites where half the antennas
can be located in a central region 5 km across. The span for the other
antennas will cover over 3000 km. If Australia wins the bid New Zealand
has the opportunity to be part of the project with an envisioned 4
“sites”, 2 located in the North Island and 2 in the South Island. (One
“site” is a collection of 15-20 radio telescopes). This will increase
the east-west baseline to over 5500km.
The
steering committee for Australia’s bid is the Australian SKA
Coordination Committee, ASCC (www.ska.gov.au).
Here in New Zealand SKANZ is the committee formed to coordinate
and promote the bid for this country’s involvement. Membership includes
representatives from our universities, Crown Research Institutes,
industries and government agencies. SKANZ has recently been formally
accepted as an Affiliated Member of the Royal Society of New Zealand (www.rsnz.org).
Current
work in radio astronomy and VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) is
centred on the Centre for Radiophysics and Space Research (CRSR) at Auckland
University of Technology. The Director of the Centre, Professor Sergei
Gulyaev, is the New Zealand SKA Project Leader.
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