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
South Africa has revealed the value of its commitments to the current, preconstruction phase of the international SKA radio telescope.

The South African contribution for the current phase is €4-million in cash and €12-million in kind, for a total value of €16-million.

In comparison, Australia’s contribution to the SKA preconstruction phase is €20.7-million, divided into €5.8-million in cash and €14.9-million in kind, despite the fact that Australia will host the smaller part of the SKA and South Africa the larger part.

In total, all the member States of the SKA Organisation have so far committed €23.4-million in cash to the preconstruction phase. Contributions in kind are expected to exceed €90-million.

These figures were released by the Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, in response to a Parliamentary question from Congress of the People MP Ms SK Plaatjie. Hannekom pointed out that the National Research Foundation had been granted R1.1-billion in the 2003/4 and 2011/12 financial years for expenditures related to South Africa’s bid to host the SKA. These funds came from  current and capital budgets.

In addition, the country has allotted about R2-billion in the medium term for MeerKAT and the SKA.
Meanwhile, the SKA Organisation officially opened its new international head office on May 7. It is located at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics in Cheshire, England. This is one of the world’s leading radio astronomy observatories and home to the famous 76-m-diameter Lovell radio telescope, first commissioned in 1957.

The new building is a state-of-the-art design, which cost £3.34-million and was funded by the University of Manchester.

The head office will house about 60 staff, including visiting scientists and engineers. It will be the global hub for the international project and the base for managing the design, construction and scientific output of the SKA.

The building has actually been in use since November and has been designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact. It was built in about six months and uses a glass facade to provide natural lighting.

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.