What is the Square Kilometre Array?
The Square Kilometre Array is an international project to build the world's largest radio telescope, with sites in Western Australia and South Africa. The Australian part, SKA-Low, will use more than 130,000 antennas.
The project's name refers to its original goal of having a total collecting area of about one square kilometre. The SKA Observatory, an intergovernmental organization headquartered at Jodrell Bank in England, oversees the project.
Construction was approved in 2021, and on-site work began in late 2022. Australia hosts the low-frequency part of the telescope, while South Africa hosts SKA-Mid, which uses dishes for mid-frequency observations.
SKA-Low in Western Australia
SKA-Low is being built at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, on Wajarri Yamaji country. Its antennas, shaped like small metal Christmas trees, will be grouped in stations spread over a large area.
The telescope produced its first image in 2025 using an early set of stations, marking a major milestone. When complete, it will be able to explore the early universe, test theories of gravity and search for signs of life beyond Earth.
The project will generate enormous amounts of data, which will be processed by supercomputers at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in Perth. The SKA is one of the largest science projects of the 21st century.
Did You Know?
Australia's earlier radio telescopes, ASKAP and the Murchison Widefield Array, are SKA precursors on the same site.