Stretching universal boundaries

Reuters

SCHEME SPINOFFS: The economic potential, which New Zealalnd hopes to tap into, rather than the astronomy is the main driver behind the development of the digital telescope.

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OPINION: One of the 21st century's biggest and most ambitious science ventures, the Square Kilometre Array, is expected to revolutionise our understanding of the universe, providing answers to key questions about fundamental physics and a range of astrophysical mysteries, from black holes and dark matter to life on other planets.

However, it is the economic potential, rather than the astronomy, which is the main driver behind the 19-country collaboration developing this "next generation" digital telescope.

The technological and engineering challenges are huge; meeting them on time and to budget will require significant innovation and generate lucrative commercial spinoffs before, during and after its operational lifetime of 70 years.

The SKA will comprise 5000 small radio antennas giving a combined collecting area of a million square metres, all digitally linked so that they operate as one giant telescope. Most of the antennas will be concentrated in one core site, while a series of remote array-stations with clusters of dishes will be positioned in a spiral configuration radiating out over thousands of kilometres.

"The scale is enormous," Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee says. "Not many will appreciate the significance to New Zealand that involvement in the SKA means - it is a truly mega science project which has a discovery potential ten thousand times greater than existing instruments."

Some of that potential has already been realised with patented applications from early "proof of concept" experiments from the six countries originally bidding to host the SKA.

Following a selection process, the number of contenders has been reduced to just two: South Africa and Australia.

And the competition is tough. Despite Australia's acknowledged global leadership in radio astronomy and superb cutting-edge designs for both the low and high frequency parts of the array, the ultimate decision will depend on the politics as well as the science.

New Zealand could make the difference, on both counts. The configuration of the Australian SKA design is such that, geographically, it is perfectly located to host a couple of array-stations and extend the baseline - the distance between the most widely separated antennas, from 3000 to 5000 kilometres.

The effect of that is to vastly increase the resolution of the telescope, which, for some of the science objectives, would be extremely useful.

Though the South African design has the potential to be similarly extended to Ghana, the infrastructural and political challenges it already faces in having to place array-stations in Namibia, Botswana, Madagascar, and other territories within range, make it unlikely in the short term. With New Zealand on board from the start, Australia can offer the highest resolution immediately and pretty much guarantee it over the lifetime of the project.

"Signing the arrangement today sends a strong signal to the international community that both countries are committed to supporting SKA-related industry opportunities and promoting the relevant capabilities of Australian and New Zealand industry," Mr Brownlee says.

"The agreement will foster already strong links and co-operation between Australian and New Zealand industry, particularly in the high technology sector."

IBM New Zealand's chief technologist, Dougal Watt, who heads the New Zealand SKA Industry Consortium, is confident that there will be ample opportunity for New Zealanders to make significant and original contributions to many aspects of the project.

"The scope of the SKA is so huge - especially the computer resource needed - that there'll be room for lots of groups to be working on very specific problems. We've got particular strengths in high performance computing, power, signal pipeline processing and imaging and, with a project like this to work on, there's no doubt that we will break new ground and add real value."

IBM, along with other multinational and local industry leaders including Cisco, Thales, Telecom International, the New Zealand Supercomputing Centre and Kordia, is backing SKA-related research.

Sergei Gulyaev, director of Auckland University of Technology's Institute of Radio Astronomy and Space Research, acknowledges industry support for the only research radio telescope in New Zealand, a new and highly responsive 12-metre dish sited at Warkworth. Government support, particularly with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise facilitating local and international industry links, MED Radio Management research in radio frequency interference and radio noise floor measurements and funding for KAREN (the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network), which provides the supercommunications backbone, has also been vital.

Within a few short years New Zealand has been able to demonstrate its inherent capability in this most demanding field, which requires an extraordinary degree of excellence across many research disciplines and technologies.

However, according to Professor Gulyaev, the SKA will require "up to 1000 people-years for development of the software only" so the next step will be a big one, but also one that is likely to offer generations of young New Zealanders exciting opportunities for lifelong careers.

Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, senior lecturer at Victoria University, who heads the New Zealand SKA Research and Development Consortium, says it is vital to position New Zealand to benefit from the project wherever it is sited.

"I can sit in my office in Wellington and drive the Australia Telescope Compact Array from my desktop computer, meaning scientists in New Zealand have just as much ability to make key discoveries on instruments like the SKA as anyone else.

"What is important is our ability to ask the key questions, make sense of the data and extend our knowledge, and there are people here well placed to do just that.

"Having SKA stations here will be fantastic, but it's the engagement now that will maximise our opportunities to be at the front line of research and innovation for decades," she says

"And that is what it is all about," says Mr Brownlee. "Keeping New Zealand on the map as a science player, and attracting and retaining our best research brains."