The 11th Council of the Square Kilometer Array Observatory Holds International Cooperation in Nanjing to Brighten the SKA of the Largest Radio Telescope

2024-03-27

The ongoing international scientific project, the Square Kilometer Array Radio Telescope (SKA), will be the largest radio telescope in human history. Recently, the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO) held its 11th council meeting in Nanjing. Philippe Diamond, Director General of SKAO, Wu Xuefeng, Deputy Director of the Zijinshan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other astronomers pointed out in an interview with the Science and Technology Daily that SKA faces many challenges, and solving these problems requires international cooperation. China has always played an important role in the world, and hopes that more Chinese scholars will participate in SKAO. SKA, the largest radio telescope jointly built and operated by multiple countries worldwide, is the world's largest comprehensive aperture radio telescope. In 2019, China, as a founding member of SKAO, signed the Convention on the Establishment of Square Kilometer Array Astronomical Observatory in Rome. Wu Xuefeng introduced that the first phase of the SKA project under construction is expected to be completed by 2028. The intermediate frequency band includes 197 scattered 15 meter reflector antennas, and the low-frequency array consists of 130000 small dipole antennas. Considering the impact of electromagnetic environment, the SKA medium frequency antenna is located in South Africa and the low-frequency antenna is located in Australia. Working simultaneously on both sides forms a radio telescope with a baseline length of thousands of kilometers, which has an unprecedented large receiving area and strong resolution imaging ability. This approach has long been a precedent internationally. In 2017, the International Cooperation Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) formed a "virtual telescope" equivalent to the size of the Earth's aperture using eight sub millimeter wave telescopes distributed worldwide, capturing the true volume of a black hole for the first time. SKA is not only a radio telescope array, but also an advanced data intensive scientific computing platform. Wu Xuefeng said that SKA integrates innovative technologies such as phased array antennas, which can flexibly control the beam direction without rotating, greatly improving observation flexibility. SKA will also produce an unprecedented amount of observation data. After the completion of the second phase project, the data volume per second will exceed the current global Internet data volume per second. "The first phase of SKA costs 2 billion euros and integrates multiple cutting-edge technologies, which is a huge challenge for any individual country, so it adopts an international cooperation model for construction," said Wu Xuefeng. "Exploring the universe requires international cooperation. Like all major projects, we have challenges, including financial and technological challenges," said Philip Diamond. "A huge challenge is how to process all data, and we will generate more data than any other scientific project. Therefore, we must develop technology, algorithms, and software to process all of this data and generate science." Philip Diamond said that to solve these problems, international cooperation is needed. "Humanity has entered the era of big science, which fundamentally requires international solidarity and cooperation, especially in astronomy. Therefore, I believe that for China, participating in international cooperation is important." The reporter learned that China's contribution to SKA has two aspects: providing corresponding construction funds and manufacturing medium and low-frequency antennas. At present, the relevant equipment is already in the south

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