Name and Location
Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, South Africa and Australia.

Client
The international SKA project is run by the UK-based SKA Organisation. The project in South Africa is the responsibility of a separate, local organisation, SKA SA.

Project Description
The aim of the project is to construct an SKA, which will be an interferometric array of individual antenna stations, synthesising an aperture, with a diameter of up to several thousand kilometres.

The SKA will operate over a range of frequencies from about 100 MHz to 25 GHz.

The radio telescope array will deploy a total collecting area of 1 km2 and will comprise a very large number of elements.

It will consist of 3 000 radio telescope dishes, each 12 m to 15 m in diameter, and other hybrid technologies.

Three-quarters of the SKA project will be hosted in South Africa and will be located at a remote site, 80 km from Carnarvon, in the Northern Cape. Three antenna stations will be in Namibia, four in Botswana and one each in Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia. Each antenna will comprise about 30 to 40 antennas, which will be synchronised with a data-processing facility through a data communications network.

The balance of the SKA will be hosted in Australia.

The array requires high-quality imaging of low-brightness emission, high angular resolution and milliarc second-scale imaging capability.

The array configuration will include a compact core. About 50% of the collecting area is within 5 km, an extended array containing about 75% of the collecting area is within 150 km, with the rest of the array configuration situated in various distant stations up to a few thousand kilometres away.

The MeerKAT radio telescope array is intended as a precursor to the SKA radio telescope. MeerKAT derives its name from the prototype South African radio telescope array, Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7). The numeral seven indicates the number of dishes comprising the instrument and ‘meer’ is the Afrikaans word for more.

Value
SKA was initially expected to cost €1.5-billion to build and between €150-million and €200-million a year to operate and maintain; however, the project is currently expected to cost more, as South Africa and Australia will host the project.

The SKA will be funded by an international consortium comprising 67 organisations in 20 different countries.

A newly established SKA Founding Board has agreed to work together to secure funding for the next phase of the project.

Duration
The decision on where to site the SKA was made in May 2012.

Construction of Phase 1 is due to start in 2019. The SKA is expected be fully operational by 2024.

Latest Developments
The UK-based SKA Organisation, has issued a request for proposals (RfP) for the preconstruction phase of the telescope. The RfP is directed at international consortia, to invite them to submit bids for work packages for the SKA.

These work packages will entail the design of key systems and components for the instrument, including antennas, data transport systems, high-performance computers, receivers and signal processing systems.

The aim of the preconstruction phase is to produce complete designs and blueprints for the SKA, allowing the SKA Organisation to issue tenders for the first construction phase.

SKA SA reported in a press release on March 15 that it was “positioned to play a prominent role in responding to this request because of the expertise of the SKA SA project team” and the involvement of local industry in the development and construction of the MeerKAT.

“The MeerKAT engineering team and local industries have been in discussions with their international peers to form consortia that will respond to the RfP,” it pointed out.

SKA SA is finalising a subsidy programme, which will assist local industry and institutions in participating in this preparatory phase of the SKA on a shared-risk basis, to develop the expertise, competency and know-how required to be internationally competitive in bidding for SKA contracts when the telescope is built.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Neotel/Broadband Infraco joint venture, or JV (bandwidth network); Eskom (electricity); Telkom (telecommunications); and Nokia Siemens Networks, Intel, Seacom, Dimension Data, Microsoft and IBM (connectivity support).

On Budget and on Time?
The project is reportedly on course, with the initial phases scheduled to go ahead in 2013.

Contact Details for Project Information
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research general and technical enquiries, Tendani Tsedu, tel +27 12 841 3417.
SKA South Africa, tel +27 11 442 2434, fax +27 11 442 2454 or email tcheetham@ska.ac.za.