Press Release

Getting Ready for the World’s Biggest-Ever Telescope

By SpaceRef Editor
April 2, 2011
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Plans for the world’s biggest telescope — the Square Kilometre Array — advanced significantly today (2nd April 2011) with a decision to locate the project office at Jodrell Bank Observatory near Manchester, support from the partners including the United Kingdom for the next phase of the project, and the first steps towards creating the legal entity needed to deliver this ambitious global project.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a O1.5 billion multinational science project to build the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The SKA will be capable of answering some of the most fundamental questions about the Universe — including helping to understand dark energy, general relativity in extreme conditions and how the Universe came to the look the way it does now.

The SKA will be an array of radio antennas with a collection area of a square kilometer with its core in South Africa or Australia. Signals from individual antennas will be combined to form one giant telescope. In the same way, the famous Lovell Telescope at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory is used with other U.K. telescopes (the e-MERLIN network) and as part of an international network. With an antenna at Chilbolton, the U.K. is also part of LOFAR a low-frequency network centered in the Netherlands. SKA builds on this technique and tradition of collaboration, bringing together all the major groups in radio astronomy.

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, prominent radio astronomer and President of the Institute of Physics, said: “Since the 1950s, radio astronomy has provided scientific pioneers with tools to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe. The power of this new telescope project however is going to surpass anything we’ve seen before, enabling us to see many more radio-emitting stars and galaxies and pulling the curtains wide open on parts of the great beyond that radio astronomers like me have only ever dreamt of exploring. The Square Kilometre Array heralds in a post-Einstein era of physics that will help us take huge strides in our attempt to understand the most bizarre objects and the darkest ages of the Universe.”

U.K. Home to the SKA Project Office

Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts said: “The Square Kilometre Array is a project of global significance. This is evidence of the high reputation of Britain’s management of international science projects. It is great news for Britain and for Jodrell Bank and Manchester University in particular.”

The U.K. has hosted the SKA Programme Development Office at The University of Manchester in recent years. We now look forward to the move of the SKA Programme Office from the Manchester campus to the University’s Jodrell Bank Observatory. Jodrell Bank is a most fitting home for the scientists and engineers who will shape the SKA. Locating the project office here will not just be a good outcome for the U.K.; it will strengthen the SKA project itself by bringing together a rich combination of innovation and experience in radio astronomy. The SKA Programme Office activity will complement the U.K. SKA effort built up in the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Oxford and extending into wider industrial and academic communities.

Professor John Womersley, STFC’s Director of Science Programmes, who was today elected as chair of the SKA Founding Board, said: “It is great to see such significant progress being made towards building the SKA, one of our highest priorities in astronomy. The universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Manchester have a great heritage in astronomy and they are working together in SKA to ensure the U.K. takes a leading role in this exciting global project to better understand the universe we live in.”

Professor Stephen Watts, Head, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester said: “Jodrell Bank is an ideal place for scientists and engineers to work together to plan the world’s largest radio telescope, alongside world-leading radio astronomy facilities, and the new Discovery Centre. Together these offer a real opportunity to inspire people of all ages with this ambitious project to answer truly fundamental questions about the nature of the universe.”

Professor Richard Schilizzi, Director of the SKA, said: “The move to Jodrell bank comes at a crucial time as the project grows from a concept to an international megascience project. The new location and facilities will support the significant expansion that is planned.”

Agreeing to an International Partnership

The SKA has been agreed as a top priority project for astronomy both in the U.K. and across Europe. It is a very significant step that nine partners have started the process to secure funding and create a legal structure for the SKA. The U.K., through the Science and Technology Facilities Council, is expecting to invest of the order of #15 million in the next phase of the SKA.

In addition to the immense scientific progress that will be made by the SKA, the project is expected to have wider benefits in continuing its already impressive involvement with industrial partners and continuing the inspiration of the public through astronomy, as Jodrell Bank has for many years.

The SKA project will drive technology development in antennas, signal transport, signal processing, and software and computing. Spin off innovations in these areas will benefit other systems that process large volumes of data. The design, construction and operation of the SKA has the potential to impact skills development in science, engineering and in associated industries not only in the host countries but in all project partners.

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Images of the SKA: http://www.flickr.com/photos/squarekilometerarray/sets/

Images of Jodrell Bank: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/multimedia/images/

Media Contacts:
Karen Lee
STFC Duty Press Officer
+44 (0)7825 125 326
karen.lee@stfc.ac.uk

Jo Bowler
Outreach Officer
SKA Program Development Office
+44 (0)161 275 4130
bowler@skatelescope.org

Science Contacts (available over the weekend):
Professor Simon Garrington
Director MERLIN/VLBI National Facility
Jodrell Bank Observatory
+44 (0)7976 400 667
stg@jb.man.ac.uk

Professor Steve Rawlings
Chair, European SKA Consortium
+44 (0)7595 635 623
sr@astro.ox.ac.uk

Background

The U.K. SKA consortium is: University of Manchester, Oxford and
Cambridge and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

SKA project announcement, with more details on the funding agreement and project office: http://www.skatelescope.org/news/2nd-april-news/

Overview of the SKA: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/About+STFC/5980.aspx

About U.K. Funding of the SKA

#15 million of capital investment has been ear-marked for radio astronomy through the sale of Channel 38 of the radio spectrum.

The U.K. has led a European consortium in developing the project from its inception, with support from the European Union Framework program.

About the SKA

The Square Kilometre Array will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The total collecting area will be approximately one square kilometer giving 50 times the sensitivity, and 10,000 times the survey speed, of the best current-day telescopes. With thousands of receptors extending out to distances of 3,000 km from the center of the telescope, the SKA will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, how galaxies have evolved since then, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth. More than 70 institutes in 20 countries, together with industry partners, are participating in the scientific and technical design of the SKA telescope which will be located in either Australia — New Zealand or Southern Africa extending to the Indian Ocean Islands. The target construction cost is O1,500 million and construction could start as early as 2016.

Science and Technology Facilities Council

The Science and Technology Facilities Council ensures the U.K. retains its leading place on the world stage by delivering world-class science; accessing and hosting international facilities; developing innovative technologies; and increasing the socio-economic impact of its research through effective knowledge exchange partnerships.

The Council has a broad science portfolio including Astronomy, Particle Physics, Particle Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Space Science, Synchrotron Radiation, Neutron Sources and High Power Lasers. In addition the Council manages and operates three internationally renowned laboratories: – The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire – The Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire – The U.K. Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh

The Council gives researchers access to world-class facilities and funds the U.K. membership of international bodies such as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the Institute Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA). It also contributes money for the U.K. telescopes overseas on La Palma, Hawaii, Chile, and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, which includes the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory. http://www.stfc.ac.uk

SpaceRef staff editor.