Australia and South Africa to share SKA super telescope

Artists impression of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project

Australia and South Africa will share the location for the SKA, the world's most powerful radio telescope, strong enough to detect extraterrestrial life. 

"We have decided on a dual site approach," said SKA (Square Kilometre Array) board chairman John Womersley at a press conference held at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, following a meeting of the organisation's members in the Dutch capital.

Both South Africa and Australia were competing to win the $2 billion contract for the SKA, an instrument that will be 50 times more sensitive than today's most powerful radio telescopes.

Scientists hope the SKA, a massive radio telescope, will shed light on fundamental questions about the Universe including how it began, why it is expanding and whether it contains life beyond our planet.

The eagerly awaited decision now means that engineers can connect antennas at Australia's core site at Mileura station 60 miles west of Meekathara in Western Australia. Other antennae are distributed across Australia and New Zealand.

South Africa's site in the arid Karoo region will now also be connected by a remote link to a network of dishes stretching across southern and eastern Africa and as far away as Ghana.

Its construction is scheduled to start in 2016, becoming fully operational in 2024.

Scanning the sky 10,000 times faster and with 50 times the sensitivity of any other telescope, it will be used to study the origins of the universe and will be able to detect weak signals that could indicate the presence of extraterrestrial life.

The lobbying has been intense and at times acrimonious, with the Australians raising concerns about the security of such an expensive project in South Africa, which suffers from high rates of violent crime.

South Africa has accused the other side of dirty tricks and selectively leaking data to boost its bid in what are supposed to be secret deliberations.