South Africa’s National Research Foundation and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory jointly announced on Tuesday that the seven member countries of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory (SKAO) had authorised the start of construction of the two arrays that will form the observatory. They did so at a meeting of the SKAO Council last week. The countries which are currently full members of the SKAO are Australia, China, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and the UK.

The SKAO will be composed of two radio telescope arrays, one each in South Africa and Australia. South Africa will host the middle radio frequency array (known as SKA-Mid) and Australia will be the base for the low radio frequency array (SKA-Low). SKAO headquarters is in the UK. SKA-Mid will incorporate South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array, which was developed as an SKA precursor, while SKA-Low will include the existing prototype station in Australia.

Formal start of construction for both arrays is July 1 (Thursday). Conclusion of construction is scheduled for July 2029. However, both arrays will be able to start doing science years before they are completed. Science commissioning and the start of observations is expected during 2024. Construction of the arrays will cost €1.3-billion (in 2020 euros) while operational costs for the first ten years will be €0.7-billion (in 2021 euros).

“I am ecstatic,” exclaimed SKAO director-general Professor Philip Diamond. “This moment has been 30 years in the making. [H]umankind is taking another giant leap by committing to build what will be the largest science facility of its kind on the planet, not just one but the two largest and most complex radio telescope networks, designed to unlock some of the most fascinating secrets of our Universe.”

“I would like to add my thanks to the members of the SKAO Council and the governments they represent,” stated SKAO Council chairperson Dr Catherine Cesarsky. “Giving the green light to start the construction of the SKA telescopes shows their confidence in the professional work that’s been done by the SKAO to get here, with a sound plan that is ready for implementation, and in the bright future of this ground-breaking research facility.”

In addition to its seven full and founder members, the SKAO Council meeting was attended by a number of observer countries. These are Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Of these, France, Spain and Switzerland are moving towards joining the SKAO as full members.