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The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project will be hosted by SouthAfrica and Australia, following a decision made by the SKAorganization today. SKA will be a €1.5bn ground-based radio-astronomy telescopeused to probe the early universe for clues on galaxy evolution,dark matter and dark energy by looking as far back into time as thefirst 100 illion years after the Big Bang. South Africa has beencompeting to host the array, with a rival bid from Australia. Decision made SKA organization members who did not bid to host the telescope(Canada, China, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK) voted to pickthe host site in a meeting held in Amsterdam today. A majority ofthem voted for the dual-site solution. "This hugely important stepfor the project allows us to progress the design and prepare forthe construction phase of the telescope," says Michiel van Haarlem,general director of the SKA organization. The decision follows a report from the SKA Site Advisory Committeesubmitted in February, which suggested that both sites were wellsuited to hosting the project. Although the report identified SouthAfrica as the preferred site, the SKA members also received advicefrom a separate working group that was set up to consider thedual-site option. The initial plan was for a single large array to consist of 2000 to3000 inked antennas spread from a central 5 m "core" that wouldcontain about 50% of the collecting area, out to stations as far as3000 m away. The array would then work as one telescope that wouldhave the same collecting area as a steerable dish 1 m in diameter. Global venture Now, with two locations in mind, the array will be spread acrossSouth Africa and Australia (the array will extend into New Zealandtoo), with the precursor test dishes – the MeerKAT array inSouth Africa and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder(ASKAP) in Australia – being included into the phase ofSKA. The majority of SKA dishes in phase will be built in SouthAfrica, along with all the dishes and the mid-frequency aperturearrays for phase I. The antennas for the low-frequency aperturearray for phases and II will be built in Australia. Stephen Serjeant, from the Open University in the UK, points outthat the "split-site decision will involve some increasedcomplication and cost". He says that both bids had built"tremendous national and international momentum and support, so anysingle-site decision would have been a very bitter blow to onecommunity". "I'm confident that the SKA split-site decision will beto the lasting benefit of astronomy as a whole, as well as to theindustrial bases in all the hosting countries," he says. As well as the physical characteristics of the site, many otherfactors were taken into consideration while trying to pick afeasible location for SKA. These included having an area with verylow levels of radio-frequency interference and the long-termsustainability of a radio-quiet zone. Long-distance data-networkconnectivity, the costs for operation and infrastructure, and eventhe political and working environments were taken intoconsideration. "Today, we are a stage closer to achieving our goal of buildingSKA. This decision was reached after very careful consideration ofinformation gathered from extensive investigations at bothcandidate sites," says John Womersley, chair of the SKA board ofdirectors. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Ultrasound Cavitation Slimming Machine , China Beauty Equipments for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Cryolipolysis Slimming Machine.
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