A new facility in Australia’s Outback could be used to detect alien life in our universe.
Construction work on the world’s largest radio telescope began on Monday some 320 miles north of the western city of Perth.
Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a $2 billion facility that will be able capture the entire universe in unparalleled detail, will include more than 130,000 Christmas-tree-shaped antennas, providing astronomers with valuable deep space data that could unlock some secrets about the universe.
The antennas will scan for low-range radio frequencies, 50 to 350 megahertz. They will also be able map the universe 135 times faster than existing telescopes.
“The scale of the SKA represents a huge leap forward in both engineering, and research and development, towards building and delivering a unique instrument,” the SKA Organisation SaysOn its website.
“As one of the largest scientific endeavors in history, the SKA will bring together a wealth of the world’s finest scientists, engineers, and policy makers to bring the project to fruition.”
It added that its unique configuration will give those using the facility “unrivaled scope in observations, largely exceeding the image resolution quality of The Hubble Space Telescope.”
The SKA will work in conjunction with another similar project in South Africa. This will use about 200 space-facing plates.
The international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope has been three decades in the making. It will take six years to build the facility, some of which will require land agreements with local Aboriginal communities.
Scientists and Astronomers will be able receive data from the SKA even before construction is complete. It could begin to provide fascinating discoveries within four years.
Professor Alan Duffy is the chief scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia. He spoke at the Brisbane Times about some of the work the SKA will undertake: “The science goals are as vast as the telescope itself, from searching for forming planets and signs of alien life, to mapping out the cosmic web of dark matter and the growing of galaxies within those vast universe-spanning filaments.”
Meanwhile, SKA official Dr Sarah Pearce offered up a tantalizing detail: “The SKA telescopes will be sensitive enough to detect an airport radar on a planet circling a star tens of light years away, so may even answer the biggest question of all: are we alone in the universe?”
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