China is making significant strides in the construction of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world's largest radio telescope array. The first batch of China-built medium frequency antennas was shipped from Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, to the SKA site in South Africa on Wednesday.
The SKA project is an ambitious international effort involving thousands of radio antennas of various types and sizes spread across locations in Australia and Africa. Funded, built, and operated by more than 10 countries, the SKA promises unprecedented sensitivity and survey speeds, surpassing any other radio instrument array developed to date.
As one of the seven founding members of this major scientific endeavor and a signatory to the SKA Observatory Convention signed in 2019, China has taken on a crucial role. The country is responsible for the design, manufacturing, transportation, integration, and commissioning of 64 SKA medium-frequency antenna sets. This recent delivery marks the beginning of the mass production phase for the antenna structures.
Once completed, the SKA array is expected to unlock new insights into the origin of the universe and advance research on the evolution of galaxies, contributing significantly to our understanding of the cosmos.
Reference(s):
China advances construction of world's largest radio telescope array
cgtn.com