Australia Is Building The World’s Largest Radio Telescope
After thirty years of development, construction has begun in Australia on the world’s largest observatory, the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope, which will use more than 100,000 antennas to observe space. It is expected that it will help scientists figure out how and when the first stars and galaxies formed, and also help to study dark energy, the reasons for the expansion of the Universe and discover other secrets of the cosmos. And potentially will contribute to the search for alien life.
As part of the Square Kilometer Array, or SKA project, 130,000 antennas and 200 satellite dishes will be installed.
Scientists hope that by listening and looking deep into space, the project will help answer some fundamental questions: Are we alone in the universe? How did the first stars shine? and what exactly is “dark energy”, etc.
The largest radio telescope will be eight times more sensitive than existing telescopes and will map the sky 135 times faster.
“This will be one of the most sensitive instruments that humanity has ever created. In the future, SKA could detect a mobile phone in the pocket of an astronaut on Mars,” Danny Price, a senior fellow at the Curtin Institute for Radio Astronomy at Curtin University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
