About SKA Project

• The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is an international effort to build the world’s biggest and most sensitive radio telescope, with eventually over a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area. 
• SKA will be a group of radio telescopes operating out of South Africa and Australia in two different ranges of radio frequency. Its headquarters are at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK.
  • The South-African array will scan for mid-frequency signals, between 350 MHz and 15.4 GHz, while the Australian telescope will work in the low-frequency range of 50-350 MHz. 
  • To improve the accuracy of triangulation of data and its resolution, the project will include additional dishes in the future in neighbouring African countries — Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia. 
• Once operational, SKA would be between 5 to 60 times more powerful than the most advanced existing radio telescopes functioning in comparable frequency ranges. 
• It will also be one of the world’s largest collaborative research projects, involving thousands of researchers and the world’s fastest supercomputers. It is expected to begin operations by 2029.   

Objectives

• The project aims to answer a wide variety of long-standing questions in physics and cosmology, by observing the universe. 
• It will study the Milky Way in great detail.
• The telescope will study magnetism and radiation from distant galaxies and map them as well. This will provide details about galaxy formation and evolution.
• It will also study the ‘Dark Ages’ of the universe and what happened within a few million years following the Big Bang before there was any light, of which we do not know much. 
• Through these observations, the SKA will also aim to detect and understand the role of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. 
• Finally, it will aid in the search for life beyond the Earth by looking for planets that orbit stars in habitable zones and studying their atmosphere for organic compounds, as a part of a science programme called Cradle of Life. 

Who is involved in the SKA Project?

• Founded in 2019, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) has 16 consortium members — Australia, South Africa, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy. 

Why in News?

• The Government of India has accorded its approval for India’s participation in the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), at an estimated cost of ₹1250 Cr. 
• This approval covers funding support for the construction phase of the international SKA Observatory (SKAO) spread over the next 7 years. 
• The project will be jointly funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), with DAE as the lead agency. 
• Subsequent to this approval, India will be signing the SKA treaty to become a full-fledged member of the SKA Observatory and thus join the growing list of countries participating in the project.

Related Information

What are radio telescopes?

• Radio telescopes detect and amplify radio waves from space, turning them into signals that astronomers use to enhance our understanding of the Universe.
• Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can detect invisible gas and, therefore, they can reveal areas of space that may be obscured by cosmic dust.