China delivers key antennas for world's largest radio telescope array
by Simon Mansfield
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Aug 01, 2024

The first set of medium-frequency antennas built in China for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) has been shipped to South Africa, marking a major milestone in constructing the world's largest radio telescope array.

These antennas were sent from Shijiazhuang, the capital of north China's Hebei Province, to the SKA site in South Africa.

The SKA project comprises thousands of radio antennas of various types and sizes, located across several sites in Australia and Africa. It is a collaborative effort involving over ten countries, aiming to achieve higher sensitivity and faster survey speeds than any previous radio telescope array.

China, a founding member of this international scientific endeavor and a signatory of the SKA Observatory Convention in 2019, is tasked with designing, manufacturing, transporting, integrating, and commissioning 64 medium-frequency antenna sets for the SKA. This shipment marks the beginning of the mass production phase of these antennas.

Once completed, the SKA array will aid in understanding the origins of the universe and advance research on the evolution of galaxies.

Based on a Xinhua News Agency article

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