photo: Naked Science

The construction of the telescope will begin next year.

In Western Australia completed and came close to the construction of the largest telescope Square Kilometer Array (SKA). As reported zn.ua with reference to Naked science, the construction is intended to begin in 2021, and to run the telescope in 2027.

130 separate radio antennas will be installed in 800 kilometres North of Perth, capital of Western Australia, on the territory of the Murchison radio astronomy Observatory. They will work in conjunction with the MeerKAT — a radio telescope located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. SKA is an international project, in its creation was attended by 14 countries.

“We completed the last major technical step before the international group will start construction of the SKA. Our budget of 1.87 billion euros for the first ten years. Over the past seven years, the government of the Commonwealth of Nations supported my team over 10 million dollars to reach that milestone, and a significant portion of these funds helped Western Australia to prepare for the construction of the SKA,” — said the head of the University ICRAR-Curtin, Professor Stephen Tingey.

Adaptive antenna array that will explore celestial bodies in a wide range of frequencies, will be one of the largest on Earth research centres that explore the history and evolution of the Universe a few million years after the Big Bang. In addition, astrobiologists will use the telescope for the search of amino acids by determining their signature at specific frequencies.

It is noted that the telescope carries not only scientific value. He will play an important role in the reconstruction of Western Australia after a pandemic COVID-19, attracting millions of dollars of investment into the regional economy.