Construction of the world’s largest radio telescope will begin on Monday BBC. Square Kilometer Array (SKA) is being built in Western Australia and South Africa. The dishes on the two continents would work together and eventually cover an area of hundreds of thousands of square metres. Einstein’s theories will be tested with SKA and scientists will search for extraterrestrial life.
The telescope will initially consist of nearly two hundred dishes and 131,000 antennas, shaped like a Christmas tree. Because the telescope would be highly sensitive, it could pick up very faint radio signals at distances of billions of light years from Earth.
Among other things, SKA will investigate the full history of hydrogen. It is the most common element in the universe. It will also investigate “fast radio bursts.” Such explosions release as much energy in a fraction of a second as our Sun produces annually.
The Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom, China, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland are currently participating in the project. Canada, India, Sweden and South Korea have indicated they want to participate as well.
Researchers have been designing the telescope for thirty years, says Professor Phil Diamond V BBC. In the first 10 years, the concept and idea were developed, in the next 10 years, the telescope technology was designed, and all the practicalities of building an SKA were arranged in the last 10 years, Diamond explains.
