About SKANZ

 The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, with a target budget of €1.3 billion (about NZ$2.4 billion), is a collaboration between institutions representing 17 countries to establish the world’s largest telescope.  Not just one giant radio telescope but a set of thousands of antennas.  This vast spread of radio receivers, 100 times more sensitive than the most powerful currently in existence, will be capable of far greater penetration into the depths of the universe. 

 The potential for exciting new discoveries on the origins of our universe is set to revolutionise astronomy, physics and many other areas of science.  Such is its importance that it is being hailed as the greatest scientific project of the 21^st Century.

Find out how you can be involved with the SKA project by visiting our
 Industry Working Group Page

On the 28^th September it was announced by the International Steering Committee that Australia and South Africa have been short listed as the countries to host the SKA.  Both have identified suitable radio quiet, sparsely populated, barren sites where half the antennas can be located in a central region 5 km across.  The span for the other antennas will cover over 3000 km.  If Australia wins the bid New Zealand has the opportunity to be part of the project with an envisioned 4 “sites”, 2 located in the North Island and 2 in the South Island.  (One “site” is a collection of 15-20 radio telescopes). This will increase the east-west baseline to over 5500km.

 The steering committee for Australia’s bid is ASKAC (www.askac.org).  Here in New Zealand SKANZ is the committee formed to coordinate and promote the bid for this country’s involvement.  Membership includes representatives from our universities, Crown Research Institutes, industries and government agencies.  SKANZ has recently been formally accepted as an Affiliated Member of the Royal Society of New Zealand (www.rsnz.org). 

 Current work in radio astronomy and VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) is centred on the Centre for Radiophysics and Space Research (CRSR) at Auckland University of Technology.  The Director of the Centre, Professor Sergei Gulyaev, is the New Zealand SKA Project Leader.