#  > Engineering Entrance Exam Resources/Ask the Experts - For U.G. Entrance Exams >  > General Knowledge Resources & Related Discussions >  >  Square Kilometer Array (SKA)  The Biggest Telescope Ever

## Manoj

*Square Kilometer Array (SKA)  The Biggest Telescope Ever

*    After a long wait for a powerful telescope and the need of time to study  universe, the world as a community is planning to build a biggest  telescope ever on this earth capable to peep in time 13.7 Billion years  ago. The dream project is named _Square Kilometer Array_ or _SKA_  keeping in view the vast expanse of the telescope. This is such a huge  and ambitious project that wherever this telescope is located, it will  occupy almost whole of that continent! The total investment in SKA is  projected to reach a figure of  1.5 Billion.
     Earlier this year in April, countries namely China, Italy, Germany,  France, South Africa, The Netherlands, Britain , Australia and New  Zealand have formed a founding committee for this issue which would be  meeting in Banff, Canada next month to discuss the further progress. The  meeting would include discussions on design and construction phase of  SKA. The target set for start of construction is by the year 2016 also  to make it operational by 2024.
 The currently suggested design for Square Kilometer Array is of  arranging 3000 rotating radio telescopic dishes spread over an area of  5500 square kilometers. These massive three storey structures would be  inter connected to a _Supercomputer_ through fiber optical  cables. This would be the most powerful computing machine ever in human  history, even faster that the existing fastest supercomputers. The  underlying features identified to be developed for this telescope are a  super computer fulfilling these requirements, a low noise amplifier and  economical radio dishes.
 The main criteria of selection for its location will be a radio free  environment. The major contenders for this bid being the Australia-New  Zealand and South Africa. Australia has shown a capability of providing  such a facility. If Australia is chosen as the location project SKA  then it will be mainly concentrated in the Shire of Murchison. The place  boasts of a radio free environment with only 110 residents and an area  far greater than whole Netherlands put together.
 Among other things which the federal Government in Australia is doing to win the bid includes a radio telescope _SKA Path finder_ after  investing $120 million. It has also strengthened up computing  facilities in and near Perth by allocating funds of $250 million.
 On the other hand if the South African Nation is selected, the  project would be concentrated in Karoo area of the Northern Cape and  would be spread over eight countries from Ghana to Madagascar.
 Seeing the vastness of this telescope, the power requirements for SKA  would be astronomical as its work. Special efforts have to be made in  supplying these energy requirements. New renewable energy sources have  to be set up near the across the sites. The region should also have a  good broad band connectivity considering the high data transfer due to  of a million million million operations per second. This mega project is  even compared to the _Large Hadron collider_ (LHC) near Geneva  which will give concrete proofs and results regarding unsolved mysteries  of origins of Earth. A slight comparison between the two will reveal  that LHC is taking looking internally to verify the findings of  scientists till now while SKA is taking into account the external  aspects of possibly the same things.
 Whichever continent wins this bid, it is sure that the images  provided and research conducted on those would be marvelous. SKA will  surely be a legacy for the whole world and for humanity.





  Similar Threads: Shortcut To Square numbers Phased Array Antenna Pipeline array processor Resolving power of image forming systems: Telescope and Microscope in engineering physics 1 pdf free download Self Phasing Antenna Array

----------


## crazybishnoi29

when this project will start??? i wish to be a part of that team........

----------

