In a significant stride toward exploring the cosmos, China has shipped the first batch of its domestically built medium-frequency antennas to South Africa for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project. This marks a pivotal moment in the construction of what will become the world’s largest radio telescope array.
The antennas departed from Shijiazhuang, the capital of north China’s Hebei Province, heading to the SKA site in South Africa. This shipment underscores China’s commitment to the SKA, an international collaboration involving over 10 countries, destined to revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
The SKA is an ambitious network of thousands of radio antennas of various types and sizes, located across multiple sites in Australia and Africa. Once completed, it will boast higher sensitivity and faster survey speeds than any existing radio instrument array, opening new frontiers in astronomical research.
As one of the seven founding members of this international science project and a signatory to the SKA Observatory Convention in 2019, China is responsible for the design, manufacturing, transportation, integration, and commissioning of 64 medium-frequency antenna sets. The delivery signifies the commencement of the mass production phase of these critical components.
The completed array is expected to provide unprecedented insights into the origin of the universe and contribute significantly to research on the evolution of galaxies. Its development marks a monumental achievement in international scientific cooperation and technological innovation.
Reference(s):
China advances construction of world's largest radio telescope array
cgtn.com
