It will revolutionise our understanding of the universe and might help us make contact with alien life.
The square kilometre array is one of the most ambitious science projects ever conceived and when completed will be the world’s most powerful radio telescope, thousands of times more capable than anything currently available.
It could explain the origin of dark matter, which makes up about 90 per cent of the universe and reveal how galaxies and stars were formed.
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But what has scientists most excited is its potential to reveal things not yet dreamed of.
«What’s really exciting is the unknown, unknowns that the SKA will discover,» said Brian Boyle, who is leading the bid to have the array centred in Australia.
«If we could predict what the SKA was going to discover we weren’t being ambitious enough.
«It’s going to revolutionise our understanding of the universe.
«When we use the word transformational, we literally mean that because it transforms our thinking from our present paradigm to something that we can’t even contemplate today.»
Australia and New Zealand are jointly bidding against South Africa for the right to build the square kilometre array, with a final decision to be made by the international science community in February.
The 1.5 billion euro project involves the construction of about 3000 dishes which, when linked together, have a total collecting surface of about one square kilometre.
via New WA telescope | alien life | square kilometre array | SKA.
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