Science

eppur_se_muova

(36,274 posts) Sat Mar 10, 2012, 03:49 PM Mar 2012

Super telescope 'favours South Africa over Australia' (BBC)

By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News

Australian media are reporting that the country is running behind South Africa in the selection process for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The huge £1.3bn ($2bn) radio telescope facility is being designed to answer some key questions about the Universe.

The Saturday editions of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age carried the leak from a panel that has looked at the technical strengths of each bid.

But commentators said South Africa's selection was not yet a done deal.
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Like all the grand scientific projects of the 21st Century (the space station, the Iter fusion reactor, the Large Hadron Collider, for example), the immense size of the SKA means no one country can afford - or has the expertise - to carry it through alone.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17325682

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Super telescope 'favours South Africa over Australia' (BBC) (Original Post) eppur_se_muova Mar 2012 OP

Why is it called the Square-Kilometer Array when it's much larger than that? laconicsax Mar 2012 #1

The "square-kilometer" part of the name refers to ... jobendorfer Mar 2012 #2

Got it, thanks. laconicsax Mar 2012 #3

laconicsax

(14,860 posts)

1. Why is it called the Square-Kilometer Array when it's much larger than that?

Reply to eppur_se_muova (Original post)

Tue Mar 13, 2012, 02:08 AM

Mar 2012

The central core of the array alone is supposed to cover almost 20 km².

jobendorfer

(508 posts)

2. The "square-kilometer" part of the name refers to ...

Reply to laconicsax (Reply #1)

Tue Mar 13, 2012, 10:25 AM

Mar 2012

the design having one square kilometer of antenna surface. It will be built as an array of hundreds of antennas, linked together as is the Very Large Array in New Mexico -- just on a much larger scale. Yes, these antennas will occupy much more than a square kilometer of physical space, but the antenna surface areas sum together to 1 square kilometer or thereabouts.

The hard thing here is going to be managing radio sources in the area ( aircraft communications, cell towers etc ). Even power transmission lines have be managed specially ( the power delivered to the SKA itself will come on buried cables for the last several
miles. )

~J

laconicsax

(14,860 posts)

3. Got it, thanks.

Reply to jobendorfer (Reply #2)

Tue Mar 13, 2012, 11:18 AM

Mar 2012

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