The SKA: Recent developments

Abstract

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a global project to design and construct the next-generation international radio telescope operating at metre to cm wavelengths. The SKA will be an interferometric array with a collecting area of up to one million square metres and maximum baseline of at least 3000 km, and is designed to address fundamental questions in cosmology, physics and astronomy. The key science goals range from the epoch of re-ionization, dark energy, the formation and evolution of galaxies and large-scale structure, the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism, strong-field tests of gravity and detection of gravity waves. The SKA project is now in the final design for an SKA Observatory to begin to be built in the latter half of this decade that will include facilities in South Africa and Western Australia. Precursor telescopes of the 1% SKA scale are currently under construction at both sites and will begin early science observations in late 2016. Scientific operations of the first 10% scale phase of the SKA is targeted for 2020.