Flurry of radio astronomy activity as WA gears up to co-host the SKA
MWA and ASKAP telescopes breaking new ground
Radio astronomy attracts visitors to Perth and the Mid-West
The world-class telescopes at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the State's Mid-West are producing outstanding scientific results, paving the way for Western Australia to co-host the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project.
Premier and Science Minister Colin Barnett said the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope had collected six petabytes of data (enough to fill more than one million DVDs) since starting operations in July 2013.
"This makes it one of the first astronomy facilities to enter the era of big data," Mr Barnett said.
"Having recently won a prestigious award for scientific impact, the MWA is now about to be upgraded to improve its capabilities 10-fold ahead of the SKA."
Another telescope at the MRO, the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP), recently detected gas from a galaxy five billion light-years away, a discovery made possible by CSIRO's award-winning phased array feed technology, coupled with the unique radio-quiet environment of the MRO.
The Premier said Karen Andrews MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Australian Minister for Industry and Science and a delegation including Professor Peter Klinken, Chief Scientist of Western Australia, would visit the MRO tomorrow (Tuesday).
Mr Barnett said the flurry of activity surrounding radio-astronomy demonstrated the significant amount of momentum building in this science priority area for the State.
"Beyond the exciting scientific discoveries, new techniques developed to process radio astronomy data are expected to deliver major benefits across a range of industries," he said.
"This includes financial, mining, energy, environmental monitoring, health, remote sensing and communication industries."
Fact File
The MRO, located 315km north-east of Geraldton, is home to the MWA and ASKAP telescopes and will be Australia's core site for the SKA: http://www.ska.gov.au
The SKA is a global endeavour to build the largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The SKA Organisation has 10 member countries - Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom: http://www.skatelescope.org
In Phase 1 of the SKA, WA will host the low-frequency telescope with South Africa hosting the mid-frequency telescope. Construction is expected to start in 2018
The MWA is an international collaboration between Australian and international institutions, led by Curtin University, and started operations in July 2013: http://www.mwatelescope.org. CSIRO's ASKAP was officially opened in October 2012: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/projects/askap
The State Government has committed more than $137m towards radio-astronomy including $46m supporting the establishment and operation of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, a joint venture between The University of Western Australia and Curtin University: http://www.icrar.org
Premier and Science Minister's office - 6552 5000
