Square Kilometre Array
Posted by Dianne Reed
on Oct 13, 2015
Peter Wheeler from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research was our guest speaker this week. He spoke about the internationally joint venture that Curtin University and University of WA are both involved in to create the biggest and best radio astronomy telescope system in the world. His statistics were mindboggling.
The work has been in the planning stages since the mid 1990s when Scientists started to consider what it would be like to see back to the beginning of time. By 2012 the site selection had been completed with two sites chosen - one here in the Murchison region in WA and the other in South Africa. Both will work collaboratively sharing data.
By 2018 they expect construction of the Square Kilometre Array will commence and should be fully operational by 2030.
There are some telescopes that look like Christmas trees, others will look like spiders and others like the more traditional shaped dish. Each of them will be tracking different radio frequencies to find out different data. It is the biggest science experiment ever attempted. They hope to go back in time to when the 'Big Bang' occurred to find out more about the first stars and galaxies. Approximately 94% of the universe is what is called dark matter or dark energy - all of this is an unknown quantity at the moment, so it is hoped that more can be found out about it. They are hoping that among their specific goals that they will find out lots more about other things.
The area in the Murchison has been decreed a 'radio quiet zone' to ensure that there is very little interference by us and our activities. The population density of the area is 0.002 persons per square kilometre - so there aren't many people out there. Apparently whoever is out there was likely to be the very first person hooked into the NBN as it was first envisioned.
Their biggest challenge will be to deal with the data that comes in from the telescopes as they expect that they will get the equivalent of the internet's worth of data - each day! A team of people at UWA are trying to resolve this issue and come up with some different ways of viewing and using the data that is being generated.
They are also hoping that it will inspire the next generation of young mathematicians, scientists and engineers as it will be they who are going to be running it. The aim is to have it 'green powered' to keep costs down - with green power that has not been invented yet.
If you want to find out more about this amazing work go to their website at: www.icrar.org .
Thanks Peter for a fascinating talk about what can be possible.