Construction update for the Square Kilometre Array Observatory

Gerhard Swart; Philip Diamond; Lewis Ball; Simon Berry; Robert Braun; Andrea Casson; Tracy Cheetham; Antonio Chrysostomou; Peter Dewdney; Robert Laing; Maria Grazia Labate; Ben Lewis; Lindsay Magnus; Joseph McMullin; Sarah Pearce; Nick Rees; Antony Schinckel; Luca Stringhetti; Andre van Es

doi:10.1117/12.3021248

11 September 2024 Construction update for the Square Kilometre Array Observatory

Gerhard Swart, Philip Diamond, Lewis Ball, Simon Berry, Robert Braun, Andrea Casson, Tracy Cheetham, Antonio Chrysostomou, Peter Dewdney, Robert Laing, Maria Grazia Labate, Ben Lewis, Lindsay Magnus, Joseph McMullin, Sarah Pearce, Nick Rees, Antony Schinckel, Luca Stringhetti, Andre van Es

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13094, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes X; 130940L (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021248
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory mission is to "build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform our understanding of the Universe and deliver benefits to society through global collaboration and innovation". It will initially realise this through the construction of the world's largest radio telescope facility, composed of a pair of interferometric arrays, SKA-Low (Australia; 50-350MHz; 74km max baseline) and SKA-Mid (South Africa; 350MHz-15.4GHz; 150km max baseline). With the construction approved in July 2021, and permitting access provided to both sites by December 2022, we describe the high-level construction strategy, in particular, to develop the earliest possible working demonstration of the architecture and then maintain a continuously working and expanding facility that demonstrates the full performance capabilities of the SKA design. We report the current status of the infrastructure development, component manufacture, array deployments and system integration on both sites. We highlight the progress to-date against the planning baselines for budget, schedule and performance to indicate the trajectories for community engagement and early science. We also note the challenges encountered and navigated in the execution of global, large research infrastructure construction as well as the broader impacts for such investments, beyond the planned scientific research.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Gerhard Swart, Philip Diamond, Lewis Ball, Simon Berry, Robert Braun, Andrea Casson, Tracy Cheetham, Antonio Chrysostomou, Peter Dewdney, Robert Laing, Maria Grazia Labate, Ben Lewis, Lindsay Magnus, Joseph McMullin, Sarah Pearce, Nick Rees, Antony Schinckel, Luca Stringhetti, and Andre van Es "Construction update for the Square Kilometre Array Observatory", Proc. SPIE 13094, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes X, 130940L (11 September 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021248

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