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68-695: The Square Kilometre Array ( SKA ) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), and headquarters, are located at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the United Kingdom. The SKA cores are being built in the southern hemisphere , where

136-556: A capacity development programme, in 2005. The programme is fully integrated into the operations of SARAO, and it is crafted to develop and retain the researchers, engineers and artisans required to ensure that the MeerKAT and SKA will be successful in South Africa. To date the programme has provided more than 1000 scholarships and fellowships across all relevant academic levels, and for a range of relevant qualifications. The programme

204-638: A founding member of the project, has designed and constructed the first prototype of the regional data processing centre. An Tao, head of the SKA group of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory , stated, "It will generate data streams far beyond the total Internet traffic worldwide." The Tianhe-2 supercomputer was used in 2016 to train the software. The processing of the project will be performed on Chinese designed and manufactured Virtex-7 processors by Xilinx , integrated into platforms by

272-468: A month-long strike action by the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), which added to the delays of the installation of dishes. The largest risk to the overall project is probably its budget, which up until 2014 had not been committed. There has been opposition to the project from farmers, businesses, and individuals in South Africa since the project's inception. The advocacy group called Save

340-437: A novel low-frequency phased aperture array spread over northern Europe. An all-electronic telescope covering low frequencies from 10 to 240 MHz, it came online from 2009 to 2011. LOFAR was in 2017 developing crucial processing techniques for the SKA.. Because of its baselines of up to 2000 km, it can make images with sub-arcsecond angular resolution over a wide field of view. Such high-resolution imaging at low frequencies

408-457: A precision pulsar timing system, and a SETI signal processor. A time and frequency reference (TFR) system provides clock and absolute time signals required by the digitisers and other telescope subsystems. This TFR system comprises two hydrogen maser clocks, two rubidium atomic clocks, a precise crystal oscillator, and a set of GNSS receiver systems for time transfer with UTC. The massive computing and digital signal-processing systems located at

476-654: Is a US$ 12 million project to specifically develop dish and feed technology for the SKA. It is operated by a consortium of universities and was completed in 2012. Potential risks for priority astronomical sites in South Africa are protected by the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act of 2007. Put in place to specifically support the South African SKA bid, it outlaws all activities that could endanger scientific operation of core astronomical instruments. In 2010, concerns were raised over

544-697: Is a South African project consisting of an array of sixty-four 13.5-metre diameter dishes as a world class science instrument, and was also built to help develop technology for the SKA. KAT-7 , a seven-dish engineering and science testbed instrument for MeerKAT, in the Meerkat National Park near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa was commissioned in 2012 and was up and running by May 2018 when all sixty-four 13.5-metre diameter (44.3 feet) dish antennae were completed, with verification tests then underway to ensure

612-607: Is an A$ 100 million project which built a telescope array of thirty-six twelve-metre dishes. It employs advanced, innovative technologies such as phased array feeds to give a wide field of view (30 square degrees). ASKAP was built by CSIRO at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site, located near Boolardy in the mid-west region of Western Australia. All 36 antennas and their technical systems were officially opened in October 2012. MeerKAT

680-775: Is coveted by academic colleagues from abroad because of its success in developing, from a low base, significant expertise in radio astronomy over the past 14 years. The African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network (AVN) is an important development towards building SKA on the African Continent. The AVN programme will transfer skills and knowledge in the SKA African partner countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia) to build, maintain, operate and use radio telescopes. MeerKAT will also participate in global VLBI operations with all major radio astronomy observatories around

748-624: Is located in South Africa's Meerkat National Park. It is designed to study highly redshifted atomic hydrogen emission emitted prior to, and during the epoch of reionization. The Allen Telescope Array in California uses innovative 6.1m offset Gregorian dishes equipped with wide band single feeds covering frequencies from 500 MHz to 11 GHz. The 42-element array in operation by 2017 is to be extended to 350 elements. The dish design has explored methods of low-cost manufacture. The International LOFAR Telescope —a €150 million Dutch-led project—

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816-657: Is one such instrument co-located at the South African SKA site. HERA is designed to detect, for the first time, radio signals from the very first stars and galaxies that formed early in the life of the universe. South African engineers and scientists are working with their colleagues at the University of California Berkeley in the US, and Cambridge University in the UK, to build HERA and exploit its unique and fundamental scientific capabilities. Other experiments which have been constructed at

884-434: Is still not possible to answer basic questions about the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetic fields , but it is clear that they are an important component of interstellar and intergalactic space. By mapping the effects of magnetism on the radiation from very distant galaxies, the SKA will investigate the form of cosmic magnetism and the role it has played in the evolving Universe. intergovernmental From Misplaced Pages,

952-404: Is unique and will be a factor of more than an order of magnitude better than SKA1-LOW. The amount of sensory data collected poses a huge storage problem, and will require real-time signal processing to reduce the raw data to relevant derived information. In mid 2011 it was estimated the array could generate an exabyte a day of raw data, which could be compressed to around 10 petabytes . China,

1020-505: Is useful for (e.g.) monitoring multiple pulsars. The combination of a very large FOV with high sensitivity means that the SKA will be able to compile extremely large surveys of the sky considerably faster than any other telescope. The combined SKA will provide a wide range of coverage, with Australia's Murchison Widefield Array providing low-frequency coverage and South Africa's MeerKAT providing mid-frequency coverage. There will be continuous frequency coverage from 50 MHz to 14 GHz in

1088-527: The CSIRO . China has pushed for a unified beam forming design that has led other major countries to drop out of the project. Canada continues to use Altera Stratix-10 processors (by Intel ). It is illegal for any US company to export high end Intel FPGAs or any related CSP design details or firmware to China amid the US-embargo which will severely limit cooperation. The Technology Development Project, or TDP,

1156-892: The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), also in South Africa, and two radio telescopes in Western Australia , the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), the MeerKAT is one of four precursors to the final SKA. MeerKAT is a precursor for the SKA-mid array, as are the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and

1224-568: The Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK, officially opened in July 2019. Initial construction contracts began in 2018. Scientific observations with the fully completed array are not expected any earlier than 2027. On 12 March 2019, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) was founded in Rome by seven initial member countries: Australia, China, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and

1292-553: The Karoo area of the arid Northern Cape Province. There are also distant stations in Botswana , Ghana , Kenya , Madagascar , Mauritius , Mozambique , Namibia and Zambia . Many groups are working globally to develop the technology and techniques required for the SKA. Their contributions to the international SKA project are classified as either: Precursors, Pathfinders or Design Studies. The Australian SKA Pathfinder, or ASKAP,

1360-674: The Karoo Array Telescope , is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park , in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Radio Telescope in Africa, and the locally designed and built MeerKAT was incorporated into the first phase of the SKA. MeerKAT was launched in 2018. Along with

1428-589: The University of Manchester , in Cheshire , England was announced as the location for the project headquarters. In November 2011, the SKA Organisation was formed as an intergovernmental organisation and the project moved from a collaboration to an independent, not for profit, company. In February 2012, a former Australian SKA Committee chairman raised concerns with South African media about risks at

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1496-598: The Wajarri language . The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in India and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are investigating the possibility of establishing supercomputing facilities to handle data from the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. The UK and India are part of the team developing the computational processing for the SKA radio telescope. On 3 January 2024, Indian government approved joining

1564-410: The reinforced concrete foundations for the MeerKAT antennas was completed on 11 February 2014. Almost 5000 m of concrete and over 570 tonnes of steel were used to build the 64 bases over a 9-month period. MeerKAT is planned to be completed in three phases. The first phase will include all the antennas but only the first receiver will be fitted. A processing bandwidth of 750 MHz is available. For

1632-740: The Assembly, Integration, Verification (AIV) Consortium have been led by SARAO, and there was South African participation in the DISH Consortium, Science Data Processor (SDP) Consortium, the Signal and Data Transport (SaDT Consortium), the Telescope Manager (TM) Consortium and the Mid-frequency Aperture Array Consortium. South African engineers have overseen the system engineering aspects of 5 of

1700-677: The Australian candidate site, particularly in terms of cost, mining interference and land agreements. SKA Australia stated that all points had been addressed in the site bid. In March 2012 it was reported that the SKA Site Advisory Committee had made a confidential report in February that the South African bid was stronger. However a scientific working group was set up to explore possible implementation options of

1768-544: The Dark Ages, culminating in First Light, is considered the first chapter in the cosmic story of creation, and the resolving power required to see this event is the reason for the Square Kilometre Array's design. To see back to First Light requires a telescope 100 times more powerful than the biggest radio telescopes currently in the world, taking up 1 million square metres of collecting area, or one square kilometre. It

1836-620: The Deputy President of South Africa, David Mabuza , inaugurated the MeerKAT Telescope, and unveiled an image produced by MeerKAT that revealed unprecedented detail of the region surrounding the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy. The 64 MeerKAT antennas will be incorporated into Phase 1 of the SKA Mid Frequency Array once the 133 SKA dishes have been built and commissioned on

1904-530: The KAPB are housed in a large shielded chamber (or Faraday cage ) to prevent radio signals from the equipment interfering with the sensitive radio receivers. The KAPB itself is partially buried below ground level to provide additional radio frequency interference (RFI) protection, and to provide temperature stability. The KAPB also houses a power conditioning facility for the entire site, including three diesel rotary UPS units that provide an uninterrupted power supply to

1972-504: The KAT-7 dishes. Despite original plans to complete MeerKAT by 2012, construction was suspended in late 2010 due to budget restructure. Science Minister Naledi Pandor denied the suspension marked any setback to the SKA project or 'external considerations'. MeerKAT construction received no funding in 2010/11 and 2011/12. The 2012 South African National Budget projected that just 15 MeerKAT antennas would be completed by 2015. The last of

2040-705: The Karoo Array Processor Building (KAPB) via buried optical fibres. The antenna signals are processed by the Correlator/Beamformer (CBF) digital signal processor. Data from the CBF is passed on to the Science Processor computer cluster and disk storage modules. The MeerKAT antenna data is also made available to a number of user-supplied digital backends via the CBF, including pulsar and fast radio burst (FRB) search engines,

2108-510: The Karoo has stated that the radio quiet zone would create further unemployment in the South African region where unemployment is already above 32%. Farmers had stated that the agriculture-based economy in the Karoo would collapse if they were forced to sell their land. The capabilities of the SKA will be designed to address a wide range of questions in astrophysics , fundamental physics , cosmology and particle astrophysics as well as extending

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2176-679: The Karoo site, resulting in a total of 197 antennas for the SKA array. All of the infrastructure currently associated with MeerKAT will be transferred to the SKA array. The KAPB has the capacity to house the additional equipment required by SKA Mid. The science objectives of the MeerKAT surveys are in line with the prime science drivers for the first phase of the SKA , confirming MeerKAT's designation as an SKA precursor instrument. Five years of observing time on MeerKAT have been allocated to leading astronomers who have applied for time to do research. The South African Department of Science and Technology, through

2244-659: The MeerKAT Precursor Array (MPA – also known as KAT-7), on the site started in August 2009. In April 2010 four of the seven first dishes were linked together as an integrated system to produce its first interferometric image of an astronomical object. In Dec 2010, there was a successful detection of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) fringes between the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory 26 m dish and one of

2312-644: The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). It is located on the SKA site in the Karoo , and is a pathfinder for SKA-mid technologies and science. It was designed by engineers within the South Africa Radio Astronomy Observatory and South African industries, and most of the hardware and software was sourced in South Africa. It comprises 64 antennas, each 13.5m in diameter, equipped with cryogenic receivers. The antennas have positions for four receivers, and one of

2380-569: The NRF and SARAO, has invested more than R760 million in infrastructure on the South African SKA site. The innovative design and engineering of the infrastructure established for MeerKAT, as well as the RFI-quiet environment, favourable physical site characteristics, and on-site technical expertise has positioned the site in the Karoo as an ideal location for other radio astronomy experiments. The HERA (Hydrogen Epoch of Reionisation Array) radio telescope

2448-1166: The SA SKA site include PAPER (the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization ) and the C-BASS (the C-Band All Sky Survey). To ensure long term viability of the Karoo site for the MeerKAT and the SKA, and for other radio astronomy instruments, the South African Parliament passed the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, in 2007. The act gives the Minister of Science and Technology the authority to protect areas, through regulations, that are of strategic national importance for astronomy and related scientific endeavours. In September 2019, an international team of astronomers using South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope discovered enormous balloon-like structures that tower hundreds of light-years above and below

2516-431: The SKA project accompanied by a financial commitment of ₹1,250 crore which marks the initial step towards ratification as a member state. The SKA will combine the signals received from thousands of small antennas spread over a distance of several thousand kilometres to simulate a single giant radio telescope capable of extremely high sensitivity and angular resolution, using a technique called aperture synthesis . Some of

2584-649: The SKAO consortium were: As of December 2022, there were 16 countries involved in the project. The headquarters of the SKA are located at the University of Manchester 's Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire , England, while the telescopes will be installed in Australia and South Africa. Suitable sites for the SKA telescope must be in unpopulated areas with guaranteed very low levels of man-made radio interference. Four sites were initially proposed in South Africa, Australia, Argentina and China. After considerable site evaluation surveys, Argentina and China were dropped and

2652-440: The United Kingdom. India and Sweden are expected to follow shortly, and eight other countries have expressed interest to join in the future. This international organisation was tasked with building and operating the facility, with the first construction contracts expected to be awarded in late 2020. By mid-2019, the start of scientific observations were expected to start no earlier than 2027. In July 2019, New Zealand withdrew from

2720-528: The centre of our galaxy. The experience gained by South African engineers in the design and construction of MeerKAT had been carried over to the SKA design, reducing risks and development costs. South African engineers within SARAO and South African industrial partners have participated in 7 of the 11 SKA engineering design consortia, contributing about 10% of the workforce in these internationally distributed consortia. The Infrastructure South Africa Consortium and

2788-643: The consortia. SARAO has signed an MoU with the SKAO to provide resources to the Bridging Activities that will continue the development of SKA subsystems now that the consortia have concluded their work. Participation by South African industrial partners in previous consortium work and future Bridging Activities is facilitated by SARAO through the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) funding initiative. Scientists from SARAO and South African universities are well represented on

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2856-491: The consortium. This international organisation is tasked with building and operating the facility. The project has two phases of construction: the current SKA1, commonly just called SKA, and a possible later significantly enlarged phase sometimes called SKA2. The construction phase of the project began on 5 December 2022 in both South Africa and Australia. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) was originally conceived in 1991 with an international working group set up in 1993. This led to

2924-844: The construction of interferometric telescopes, members of the Karoo Array Telescope constructed the Phased Experimental Demonstrator (PED) at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town between 2005 and 2007. During 2007, the 15 metres (49 ft) eXperimental Development Model Telescope (XDM) was built at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory to serve as a testbed for MeerKAT. Construction of

2992-680: The current "radio-quietness" of the main Australian SKA site at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory . The project has two phases of construction: the current SKA1, commonly just called SKA, and a possible later significantly enlarged phase sometimes called SKA2. PrepSKA commenced in 2008, leading to a full SKA design in 2012. Construction of Phase 1 was scheduled to take place from 2018 to 2020, providing an operational array, with Phase 2 completion in 2025. In April 2011, Jodrell Bank Observatory of

3060-621: The eight countries leading the project attending ceremonies to celebrate the event. The Australian part of the project comprises 100,000 antennas built across 74 km (46 mi), also in the Murchison region , in the traditional lands of the Wajarri Aboriginal people. Bulldozers were expected to start working on the site in early 2023, with the completion date estimated as 2028. The site has been named Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara , which means ' sharing sky and stars ' in

3128-482: The first two phases of its construction. The frequency range from 50 MHz to 14 GHz, spanning more than two decades , cannot be realised using one design of antenna and so the SKA will comprise separate sub-arrays of different types of antenna elements that will make up the SKA-low, SKA-mid and survey arrays: The area covered by the SKA – extending out to ~3000 km – will comprise three regions: The SKA

3196-464: The 💕 [REDACTED] Look up intergovernmental in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Intergovernmental can refer to: Intergovernmentalism Intergovernmental immunity (disambiguation) Intergovernmental Risk Pool Intergovernmental organization Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

3264-464: The increasing rate of expansion of the universe . The cosmological measurements enabled by SKA galaxy surveys include testing models of dark energy, gravity, the primordial universe, and fundamental cosmology, and they are summarised in a series of papers available online. The SKA is intended to provide observational data from the so-called Dark Ages (between 300,000 years after the Big Bang when

3332-697: The installation of multiple receiver systems in the primary and secondary focal areas and is the reference design for the mid-band SKA concept. MeerKAT supports a wide range of observing modes, including deep continuum, polarisation and spectral line imaging, pulsar timing and transient searches. A range of standard data products are provided, including an imaging pipeline. A number of "data spigots" are also available to support user-provided instrumentation. Significant design and qualification efforts are planned to ensure high reliability to achieve low operational cost and high availability. MeerKAT's 64 dishes are distributed over two components: To acquire experience in

3400-486: The instruments are functioning correctly. The dishes are equipped with a number of high performance single pixel feeds to cover frequencies from 580 MHz up to 14 GHz. The Murchison Widefield Array is a low-frequency radio array operating in the frequency range 80–300 MHz that began upgraded operation in 2018 at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site in Western Australia. The HERA array

3468-401: The limits of general relativity such as the behaviour of spacetime in regions of extremely curved space. The goal is to reveal whether Einstein was correct in his description of space, time and gravity, or whether alternatives to general relativity are needed to account for these phenomena. The sensitivity of the SKA in the 21 cm hydrogen line will map a billion galaxies out to the edge of

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3536-498: The observable Universe. The large-scale structure of the cosmos thus revealed will give constraints to determine the processes resulting in galaxy formation and evolution . Imaging hydrogen throughout the Universe will provide a three-dimensional picture of the first ripples of structure that formed individual galaxies and clusters. This may also allow the measurement of effects hypothetically caused by dark energy and causing

3604-450: The other two sites were shortlisted (with New Zealand joining the Australian bid, and 8 other African countries joining the South African bid): The core site is located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) at Mileura Station near Boolardy in the state of Western Australia , 315 km (196 mi) north-east of Geraldton The core site is located at the Meerkat National Park , at an elevation of about 1000 metres, in

3672-569: The project. As of November 2020, five precursor facilities were already operating: MeerKAT and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) in South Africa, the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia and the International LOFAR Telescope, spread across Europe with a core in the Netherlands. The construction phase of the project began on 5 December 2022 in Australia and South Africa, with delegations from each of

3740-563: The range of the observable universe . A number of key science projects that have been selected for implementation via the SKA are listed below. For almost one hundred years, Albert Einstein 's general theory of relativity has precisely predicted the outcome of every experiment made to test it. Most of these tests, including the most stringent ones, have been carried out using radio astronomical measurements. By using pulsars as cosmic gravitational wave detectors, or timing pulsars found orbiting black holes , astronomers will be able to examine

3808-465: The second and third phases, the remaining two receivers will be fitted and the processing bandwidth will be increased to at least 2 GHz, with a goal of 4 GHz. With construction of all sixty-four MeerKAT antennas complete, verification tests have begun to ensure the instruments are functioning correctly. Following this, MeerKAT will be commissioned in the second half of 2018 with the array then coming online for science operations. On 13 July 2018,

3876-496: The signing of the first Memorandum of Agreement in 2000. In the early days of planning, China vied to host the SKA, proposing to build several large dishes in the natural limestone depressions ( karst ) that dimple its southwestern provinces; China called their proposal Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope (KARST). Australia's first radio quiet zone was established by the Australian Communications and Media Authority on 11 April 2005 specifically to protect and maintain

3944-459: The sky more than ten thousand times faster than before. With receiving stations extending out to a distance of at least 3,000 km (1,900 mi) from a concentrated central core, it will exploit radio astronomy 's ability to provide the highest-resolution images in all astronomy. The SKAO consortium was founded in Rome in March 2019 by seven initial member countries, with several others subsequently joining; as of 2021 there were 14 members of

4012-399: The sub-arrays of the SKA will also have a very large field-of-view (FOV), making it possible to survey very large areas of sky at once. One innovative development is the use of focal-plane arrays using phased-array technology to provide multiple FOVs. This will greatly increase the survey speed of the SKA and enable several users to observe different pieces of the sky simultaneously, which

4080-399: The three vacant positions will be filled by S-band receivers provided by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR). The array configuration has 61% of the antennas located within a 1 km diameter circle, and the remaining 39% distributed out to a radius of 4 km. The receiver outputs are digitised immediately at the antenna, and the digital data streams are transported to

4148-482: The title Intergovernmental . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intergovernmental&oldid=932891440 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages MeerKAT MeerKAT , originally

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4216-437: The two candidate host regions, and on 25 May 2012 it was announced that it had been determined that the SKA would be split over the South African and African sites, and the Australia and New Zealand sites. While New Zealand remained a member of the SKA Organisation in 2014, it appeared that no SKA infrastructure was likely to be located in New Zealand. In April 2015, the headquarters of the SKA project were chosen to be located at

4284-416: The universe became cool enough for hydrogen to become neutral and decouple from radiation) and the time of First Light (a billion years later when young galaxies are seen to form for the first time and hydrogen becomes ionized again). By observing the primordial distribution of gas, the SKA should be able to see how the Universe gradually lit up as its stars and galaxies formed and then evolved. This period of

4352-529: The various SKA Science Working Groups (SWGs), with about 10% of the authors of papers in the SKA Science Book having South African institution affiliations. The MeerKAT Large Science Projects (LSPs) are closely aligned with the SKA science case, and there is a large membership overlap between the LSP teams and the associated SWGs. To create the required skills to design, construct and operate the SKA and MeerKAT telescopes, and to make optimal use of these radio telescopes for research, once commissioned, SARAO initiated

4420-465: The view of the Milky Way galaxy is the best and radio interference is at its least. Conceived in the 1990s, and further developed and designed by the late-2010s, when completed sometime in the 2020s it will have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre . It will operate over a wide range of frequencies and its size will make it 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument. If built as planned, it should be able to survey

4488-853: The whole site. A long-haul optical fibre transfers data from the KAPB to the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) and SARAO office in Cape Town, and provides a control and monitoring link to the SARAO operations centre in Cape Town. Telescope data processing and reduction is executed on compute facilities provided by the MeerKAT SP systems, and on other high performance computer facilities provides by MeerKAT users. MeerKAT inaugurated in July 2018 consists of 64 dishes of 13.5 metres in diameter each with an offset Gregorian configuration. An offset dish configuration has been chosen because its unblocked aperture provides uncompromised optical performance and sensitivity, excellent imaging quality and good rejection of unwanted radio frequency interference from satellites and terrestrial transmitters. It also facilitates

4556-547: The will to enforce this law when Royal Dutch Shell applied to explore the Karoo for shale gas using hydraulic fracturing , an activity that would have the potential to increase radio interference at the site. An identified remote station location for the southern African array in Mozambique was subject to flooding and excluded from the project, despite the SKA Site Selection Committee technical analysis reporting that all African remote stations could implement flood mitigation solutions. During 2014, South Africa experienced

4624-405: Was estimated to cost €1.8 billion in 2014, including €650 million for Phase 1, which represented about 10% of the planned capability of the entire telescope array. There have been numerous delays and rising costs over the nearly 30-year history of the intergovernmental project. As of December 2022, the whole project was reported to be worth around A$ 3 billion. In February 2021, the members of

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