PUNE India’s plans for participation in the construction of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) observatory include leading the end-to-end monitoring and control of the entire SKA, said Yashwant Gupta, director, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune.
He was speaking on ‘Radio astronomy in the 21st century’ at the Maharashtra Khagol Sammelan organised at Fergusson College on Friday.
Sharing his views, Gupta said, “Astronomy is the oldest science and started from the time mankind turned its gaze upwards to try and understand the heavens and has evolved dramatically with the invention of the telescope.”
He went on to explain how radio astronomy started and how it has become one of the mainstream branches of astronomy over the last six to seven decades. He also highlighted the growth of radio astronomy in the country, including state-of-the-art world-class facilities like the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) located about 80 km from Pune, which has been built and run by NCRA.
Speaking about SKA he said that it is a truly next-generation radio astronomy observatory. “SKA has recently completed the design and early prototype development stage and started construction of phase 1 in 2022 which will continue till 2030. Phase 1 of SKA itself will be bigger and more capable than the GMRT, with 200 dish antennas spread out over 180km in a radio quiet location in South Africa, and 512 dipole antenna stations spread out over 80 km at a remote site in Australia,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking about SKA he said that it is a truly next-generation radio astronomy observatory. “SKA has recently completed the design and early prototype development stage and started construction of phase 1 in 2022 which will continue till 2030. Phase 1 of SKA itself will be bigger and more capable than the GMRT, with 200 dish antennas spread out over 180km in a radio quiet location in South Africa, and 512 dipole antenna stations spread out over 80 km at a remote site in Australia,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}He further said that SKA will push the envelope in several technology areas. “SKA uses advanced and diversified antenna design principles, along with cryogenically cooled low noise electronics. It will have one of the biggest data archives on the planet, accumulating about 1 petabyte per year, and it will require the best of modern big data analysis and mining techniques like machine learning and other modern tools to extract the best possible science benefits from the SKA”, said Gupta
In India, the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, which is part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), is the coordinating scientific institute involved in the project. India is currently working on finalising plans to formally participate in the construction phase of the SKA project, and awaiting final approval from the Indian government for its official participation.