The Square Kilometre Array Observatory, formally known as the SKA Observatory, is an intergovernmental organisation composed of Member States from five continents and headquartered in the UK. Its mission is to build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform our understanding of the Universe, and deliver benefits to society through global collaboration and innovation. Its two telescopes, each composed of hundreds of dishes and thousands of antennas, will be constructed in South Africa and Australia and be the two most advanced radio telescopes on Earth.
For more than 30 years, various stakeholders in Germany and beyond have been planning, developing and negotiating to become part of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory. Over the past decades, the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR) has played an active role in the design of the SKAO and its telescopes and has developed key technologies with unique benefits for science. Among other things, the institute is playing a key role in the extension of South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope.
In future, the data generated by the SKAO are to be bundled and processed at supercomputer facilities dotted around the SKAO members. In Germany, this will take place at the German Center for Astrophysics (DZA), which is currently being built in Görlitz in Lusatia, as part of the European Data Center.
As the first official act of its SKAO membership, Germany will host the next SKAO Science Conference, which will take place at the DZA site in Görlitz from June 16 to 20, 2025.
Further Reading
- Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (01.11.2024): Germany has become an official member of the SKAO
