Antennas placed as crew carry out test run for Murchison’s SKA-Low radio telescope mega-project

Progress at the site of the future Square Kilometre Array-Low (SKA-Low) telescope in the Murchison is continuing, with the first set of antennas installed by the organisation’s crew six months after construction officially began. It has been described as a “test run” as the multinational SKA Organisation prepares to install 131,072 antennas amongst 512 stations across a 74km-long area in the outback of the Gascoyne this month. The “final verification system” will test if the equipment in place is able to transfer signals from the site and converted into information to be studied. Previous antennas have been installed by contractors, but these were the first for the team which will see the project through until it is completed. CSIRO and SKAO Head of Engineering Operations Angela Teale said the team had learnt much about what they would need to do to scale the project up to meet their ambitious goals. “This was our last opportunity really to deploy these new versions of our antennas and take the lessons learned in the field into the future rollout,” said Ms Teale. Ms Teale said the SKA-Low team was in the process of scaling up its operations as it prepared to build one of the world’s largest scientific projects. “The team is growing rapidly, I think it’s doubled since I joined last year, and we’re preparing to move at a quicker pace over the next months and years,” she said. Construction began on the SKA-Low telescope in December 2022 and it is expected that the project will be up and running in 2028.