Factbox: What does the Square Kilometre Array do?

[shawn703]

(Reuters) - A decision on where to site the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope, either South Africa or Australia and New Zealand, could be made on Friday.

Scientists hope the telescope will help answer fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of the universe, and whether it contains life beyond our planet.
Here is a look at the radio telescope:

WHAT DOES IT DO?

-The SKA will drive technology development particularly in information and communication technology. Spin-off innovations in this area will benefit other systems that process large volumes of data from geographically dispersed sources.

-The energy requirements of the SKA also present an opportunity to accelerate technology development in scalable renewable energy generation, distribution, storage and demand reduction.

QUICK FACTS:

Read more...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-science-telescope-ska-idUSBRE84N0YP20120524


I heard the New Zealand/Australia site was chosen.

[HopeHoops]

1. It will certainly fill in a gap in the sphere of space junk (no insult intended).

As to its usefulness, I suspect that's a matter for the future as in "just get the fucker up there and we'll add stuff later".

[bigbrother05]

2. You did notice it will be built on the ground, so no "space junk" nt

[drm604]

3. I think the owners of the array would be pretty pissed if someone launched it into space.

[Posteritatis]

4. Could've avoided some embarrassment by reading the first sentence of the article there. (nt)

[HopeHoops]

5. Yeah, I just assumed space-based for clarity of signal reasons.