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Le antenne del progetto SKAO

The largest radio telescope ever built

Since the end of 2017, we have embarked on a highly satisfying international adventure..

We were involved through INAF (the National Institute for Astrophysics) in creating prototypes for the international SKA project.
With a considerable commitment of resources dedicated to developing the SKALA antenna and testing the materials used, we managed to bring the construction of the antennas to Italy.
Only in 2022, after almost five years of work, we won the tender for the construction of the first 78.000 low-frequency antennas (50-350MHz).

Visit SKAO Official website

The largest radio telescope ever built

Since the end of 2017, we have embarked on a highly satisfying international adventure..

We were involved through INAF (the National Institute for Astrophysics) in creating prototypes for the international SKA project.
With a considerable commitment of resources dedicated to developing the SKALA antenna and testing the materials used, we managed to bring the construction of the antennas to Italy.
Only in 2022, after almost five years of work, we won the tender for the construction of the first 78.000 low-frequency antennas (50-350MHz).

Visit SKAO Official website
l'Australia vista dal satellite

The SKAO is an international observatory building the largest radio telescope arrays on Earth to probe looking back in time to the dawn of the universe.

The radio telescope will consist of low-frequency antennas installed in Australia and mid-frequency antennas/dishes installed in South Africa.

Together with other cutting-edge research facilities, the SKA telescopes will explore the unknown frontiers of science and deepen our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies.

DEEPENING

The SKA telescope antennas will require very high-performance computing centre and the computing power of each of the two SKAO supercomputers will be 25% more powerful than the current best supercomputer in the world.

With antennas spread across 150km in South Africa and 74km in Australia, the SKA telescopes will test the capabilities of radio astronomers and provide the highest-resolution images in the history of astronomy.

On 28 April 2017, the start of the work was made official. In December 2017, the AAVS1 test platform was completed, consisting of 256 prototypes of the 131,072 antennas, made mainly by Sirio Antenne, that will constitute the SKA-Low telescope.

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  • It aims to answer some fundamental questions regarding the origin and evolution of the Universe, questions in astrophysics, fundamental physics, cosmology and particle astrophysics, and broadening the horizon of the observable universe.
  • It will make it possible for astronomers to examine the limits of general relativity, such as space-time behaviour in regions with extreme curvature. The goal is to prove whether Einstein's theory correctly describes space-time and gravity in those contexts or if they present deviations from the prediction of general relativity.
  • It will make it possible to map a billion galaxies to the edge of the observable Universe.
    The distribution of hydrogen in galaxies will be mapped with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, thanks to which it will be possible to observe young galaxies in formation at distances never reached before and study their evolution over billions of years.
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  • It’s designed to provide observational data relating to the cosmic dawn, the era in which the first stars and galaxies of the Universe lit up, a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.It will study the period immediately following and partly contemporary with re-ionization when the intense ultraviolet light of the first stars ionized the neutral gas environment that hid them and which ended when the Universe reached its first billion years of age.
  • It will analyse the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism and how the present Universe has been shaped.
  • Through collateral projects, it will also study protoplanetary disks, search for prebiotic chemical material, and search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Author of the text
Dr. Ilaria Sganzerla / Doctor in Astronomy