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(The Gist of Science Reporter) Square Kilometer Array (SKA): Exploring the Universe with World’s Largest Radio Telescope

[SEPTEMBER-2019]

Square Kilometer Array (SKA): Exploring the Universe with World’s Largest Radio Telescope

India is a member of the group of 13 countries (Australia, Canada, China. France, Germany, India. Italy, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United
Kingdom) that have got together to build the world's largest radio telescope, with
eventually over a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area.
While 13 countries including India (6-10% of the €700 million project) are currently funding the SKA, around 100 organisations in about 20 countries representing over 1,000 scientists and engineers make it one of the largest scientific endeavours in history.
In the first phase, there will be about 200 dishes in South Africa’s Karoo region, and over 130,000 low-frequency antennas in Western Australia’s Murchison Shire, that will
enable astronomers to monitor the sky in unprecedented detail and survey the entire sky much tastier than any system currently in existence.
The two sites were chosen because of the characteristics of the atmosphere above the sites and their radio quietness, which comes from being some of the most remote yet accessible locations on the Earth. The unprecedented sensitivity of the SKA's receivers will allow insights into the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, the role of cosmic magnetism, the nature of gravity, and possibly even life beyond Earth, not to
mention serendipitous discoveries that are expected when something so much more sensitive than any existing facility is built.
The SKA will push several areas of technology to the next level, i.e. spanning antenna design, radio frequency electronics and optical libre technologies, low-power electronics,
signal processing, high-performance computing, as well as complex system
management software. Some of the most challenging innovations will be more sensitive than any existing facility is built.
The SKA will push several areas of technology to the next level, i.e. spanning antenna design, radio frequency electronics and optical fibre technologies, low-power electronics,
signal processing, high-performance computing, as well as complex system management software. Some of the most challenging innovations will be in the area of software and computing, making it a truly "I ! telescope”. The world’s leading scientists and engineers are designing and developing a system that will require supercomputers faster than any in existence, and network technology that will generate more data traffic than the entire Internet.
The National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) in Pune is leading India’s participation in the SKA, funded by the DAE and DST. The SKA-India Consortium (SKAIC) is responsible for overseeing SKA-related activities in India, which has almost twenty member organisations from all over the country.
India has led the design of the Telescope Manager, which is the brain and nervous system of the entire SKA Observatory and interacts with all the other elements to run the Observatory. The complex software to be used for the end-to-end management of the entire Observatory has been developed leveraging the expertise of Indian IT
industries and utilising next generation tools and ideas to tackle the complex problem.
Indian institutions and industry have also been involved in technology and science with the SKA precursor and pathfinder facilities such as Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) Observator in Australia and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) Observatory
in India.