The Square Kilometre Array (SKA): a physics machine for the 21st Century

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is the next-generation radio-telescope and will be a true mega-science facility. SKA is being designed and built by a global partnership of 10 nations, including Sweden.

The SKA Observatory will have sites in Australia and South Africa and a headquarter in the United Kingdom. It will build on the precursor telescopes, which have been constructed on the sites. The SKA is being designed as a physics machine for the 21st Century and will address a huge range of scientific questions such as the nature of gravity, the origins of the Universe and the origins of life.

The SKA is approaching the final stages of the detailed design phase. Funding of approximately €200M has been committed by the partner nations to deliver that design. The design will be completed at the end of 2018 and, assuming construction funding is secured, construction activities will begin in 2019. 

Meet Phil Diamond who will describe all of the exciting science that SKA will enable. He will further provide an update on the status of the project, including the technical challenges associated with the design and delivery of a true ‘big data’ facility: SKA will generate raw data at a rate greater than that of the entire global internet.

A brief orientation on the Swedish involvement in the SKA project will also be given during the seminar by Prof. Hans Olofsson.

Speaker: Professor Philip Diamond - School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester, Director General of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation.

Moderator: Professor Hans Olofsson – Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg.      

“I hope to capture the excitement and anticipation the science community has as it prepares for the construction of SKA”. Phil Diamond

The seminar will be held in English