Construction begins on SKA telescopes in Australia and South Africa

Construction of the SKA telescopes has started in Australia and South Africa.

We celebrated the turning of the soil at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on 5 December 2022. Australia’s telescope will be built on this remote Western Australian site.  

The following guests were at the event:

• The Hon Ed Husic MP, Minister for Industry and Science
• Sabine Winton MLA, Parliamentary Secretary for Premier and Deputy Premier, WA Government
• Prof Phil Diamond, Director General of the SKA Observatory
• Dr Elanor Huntington, Executive Director, National Facilities and Collections, CSIRO
• Rossco Foulkes-Taylor, President, Murchison Shire
• Dr Sarah Pearce, SKA-Low Telescope Director
• Wajarri Yamaji representatives.

The SKA Observatory awarded 2 infrastructure contracts to Australian business Ventia. These contracts are for:

• track preparation
• trenching
• power and fibre distribution
• construction of on-site buildings and offices.

The contracts require local and Wajarri Yamaji business involvement.

In the past 5 years, over 1000 engineers and scientists in 20 countries have helped design the SKA telescopes.

The start of construction is an important milestone that shows what the world can achieve when we collaborate on science.