The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental radio telescope project proposed to be built in Australia and South Africa. Conceived in the 1990s, and further developed and designed by the late-2010s, if built, it would have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre sometime in the 2020s.^[1][2] It would operate over a wide range of frequencies and its size would make it 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument. It would require very high performance central computing engines and long-haul links with a capacity greater than the global Internet traffic as of 2013.^[3] Initial construction contracts are slated to begin in 2020. Scientific observations are not expected any earlier than 2027.^[4][5]

Square Kilometre Array

Alternative names	SKA
Location(s)	Southern Hemisphere
Coordinates	30°43′16″S21°24′40″E
Built	2024 –2030
First light	2027 (projected)
Telescope style	phased array
Collecting area	1 km2(11,000,000 sq ft)
Website	skatelescope.org
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With receiving stations extending out to a distance of at least 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) from a concentrated central core, it would exploit radio astronomy's ability to provide the highest resolution images in all astronomy. The SKA would be built in the southern hemisphere, with cores in South Africa and Australia, where the view of the Milky Way Galaxy is the best and radio interference at its least.^[6] If built as planned, it should be able to survey the sky more than ten thousand times faster than before.

The SKA was estimated to cost €1.8 billion in 2014, including €650 million for Phase 1, which represented about 10% of the planned capability of the entire telescope array.^[7][8] The cost of Phase 2 was not yet established by 2014.^[9] There have been numerous delays and rising costs over the nearly 30-year history of the intergovernmental project.^[4]

The headquarters of the project are located at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, in the UK.^[10] On 12 March 2019, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) was founded in Rome by seven initial member countries, with several others expected to join in the future. This international organisation is tasked with building and operating the facility, with the first construction contracts scheduled to be awarded in late 2020.^{[11](from Internet)}