Joint media release with Gary Gray MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia
A radio-astronomy research centre launched in Perth today has been welcomed by the Australian Government as a further boost in the joint Australia-New Zealand bid to host the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio-telescope.
Gary Gray, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia, represented Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr at the launch of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.
“This centre is about achieving excellence in astronomical science and engineering and is another important next step in Australia’s bid to host the SKA,” Mr Gray said.
“The centre will have a strong focus on developing partnerships with both science and industry and building critical mass in key areas that could support the SKA.”
The SKA is a mega-science project involving 19 nations collaborating in a large-scale, new-generation radio-telescope with a discovery potential 10,000 times greater than current instruments.
If successful, the SKA in Australia and New Zealand would comprise up to four thousand antennas spread over five thousand kilometres forming a single radio telescope with the capacity to see back to the formation of the first stars.
“The centre will complement the leading-edge Australian SKA Pathfinder radio-telescope being built in WA as a precursor to the SKA project,” Senator Carr said.
“It will be one location where data gathered by the SKA Pathfinder and hopefully the SKA is turned into knowledge about the universe and our place in it.”
The new centre is a collaboration between the University of WA and Curtin University, with support from the WA Government.
Last week Senator Carr launched another project critical to the SKA bid, the $80 million Pawsey High Performance Computing Centre for SKA Science.
WA’s sparsely populated mid-west is one of two sites being considered to host the core of the SKA; the other is in South Africa. A decision is expected in 2012. For more information on the SKA, including pictures and animations, visit www.ska.gov.au.
Media contacts: Patrick Pantano, Minister Carr’s Office, 0417 181 936
Alicia Miriklis, Gary Gray’s Office, 0428 911 240