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The Square Kilometre Array: an update

The Square Kilometre Array: an update. Steve Rawlings UoOxford and PrepSKA Coordinator Richard Schilizzi SKA Program Development Office Japan, November 2010. A Global Collaboration. Science SKA Science & Engineering Committee. Coordination SKA Program Development Office. Policy

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The Square Kilometre Array: an update

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  1. The Square Kilometre Array: an update Steve Rawlings UoOxford and PrepSKA Coordinator Richard Schilizzi SKA Program Development Office Japan, November 2010

  2. A Global Collaboration Science SKA Science & Engineering Committee Coordination SKA Program Development Office Policy Agencies SKA Group

  3. processor

  4. The SKA Concept a large radio telescope for transformational science • ~1 million m2 collecting area distributed over a distance of 3000+ km but with ~50% of collecting area in a compact (~5 km diameter) core • Operating as an interferometer at frequencies from 70 MHz to at least 10 GHz (4m-3cm), with at least two detector technologies: aperture arrays and dishes • Connected to a hierarchical processing system via optical fibre network, and a green-computing icon • Phased roll-out: SKA1 and SKA2 • providing • >>10-times (~102) x sensitivity of any previous telescope • >>1000-times (~104-6) x the mapping speed

  5. SKA Phases • Construction will proceed in two phases: SKA1and SKA2 SKA1 (cost ~€350m) will be a subset of SKA2 (additional cost ~€1.2B) : low-frequency (70-450 MHz) aperture array with >10% of the final sensitivity, plus dishes (0.45->10 GHz) with ~10% of the final sensitivity Breakthrough science observations possible with SKA1 before 2020

  6. ALMA JWST IXO Great Observatories for the coming decades E-ELT SKA

  7. Project Status ROADMAPS Europe AstroNet SKA and E-ELT equally high priority for ground-based large-scale projects US Decadal Review SKA represents the “long-term future for radio astronomy”. Mid-decade review opportunity for further funding Australia Decadal Plan: Pathway to SKA remains #1 priority for radio astronomy in Australia. €200M in investment in radio astronomy infrastructure/capability. African Union Heads of State acknowledge importance of SKA in the development of knowledge-based economies and driving HCD programs. South Africa is spending €200M on radio astronomy.

  8. Key Period • SKA project is evolving quickly • significant investments in tech. verification programs, pathfinders & precursors • - government ministries & funding agencies are engaged • Key decisions coming up (2010-12) • future organisation & governance for pre- construction phase (2012-15) • pre-construction funding • site decision

  9. SKA Key Science Drivers ORIGINS • Neutral Hydrogen in the Universe from the Dark Ages to the Epoch of Re-ionisation to now • When did the first stars and galaxies form? • How did galaxies evolve? • Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Neutrino masses • Cradle of Life: protoplanetary disks, exoplanets FUNDAMENTAL FORCES • Pulsars, General Relativity & gravitational waves, Gravitational Wave Telescope, Quantum Gravity • Origin & Evolution of cosmic magnetism TRANSIENTS (NEW PHENOMENA) Science with the Square Kilometre Array (2004, eds. C. Carilli & S. Rawlings, New Astron. Rev.,48)

  10. Key Science for Phase 1 (SKA1) ORIGINS • Neutral Hydrogen in the Universe from the Dark Ages through the Epoch of Re-ionisation to now • When did the first stars, galaxies and black holes form? • How did they re-ionize the Universe? • How did Hydrogen settle into FUNDAMENTAL FORCES • Pulsars, General Relativity & gravitational waves Science with the Square Kilometre Array (2004, eds. C. Carilli & S. Rawlings, New Astron. Rev.,48)

  11. Square Kilometre ArrayTechnical Requirement Snapshot

  12. Baseline Design for SKA1 • 1)Low frequency array for 70-450 MHz for measurements of Dark Ages, Epoch of Re-ionisation and Hydrogen in the distant universe • 2)Dish array with single pixel feeds for 0.45-3 GHz for pulsar timing  tests of strong gravity and gravitational waves, and Hydrogen in the nearby universe

  13. SKA1 baseline design 250 Dishes Central Region Single pixel feed 50 Sparse Aperture Arrays Artist renditions from Swinburne Astronomy Productions

  14. Advanced Instrumentation • Further development of innovative wide-field “radio camera” technologies at mid-frequencies • potential for enhancing SKA1 and be a major part of SKA2 dense aperture array (FoV ~ 200 deg2) phased array feeds (PAFs) on the dishes (FoV ~ 30 deg2) • Decision in 2016

  15. SKA2 including AIP technologies 250 Dense Aperture Arrays 3000 Dishes 3-Core Central Region Wide Band Single Pixel Feeds 250 Sparse Aperture Arrays Phased Array Feeds Artist renditions from Swinburne Astronomy Productions

  16. Dishes, feeds, receivers (N=3000) Aperture arrays (N=250, n=104-5) Signal transport (800 Tbit/s) Signal processing (exa-MACs) Software engineering and algorithm development High performance computing (exa-flop capability) Data storage (exa-byte capacity) (Distributed) power requirements (50 -100 MW) SKAis driving development of new science &technical solutions ongoing verification programs INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT IS CENTRAL TO THE SKA (see Diamond talk)

  17. SKA System Design (2007-2012) Contributing programs (70 fte/yr) • EC FP6 SKA Design Study (SKADS) • EC FP7 Preparatory Phase (PrepSKA) • US Technology Development Program • “Precursor” telescopes on the candidate sites: ASKAP, MWA (AU), MeerKAT (SA) • “Pathfinder” telescopes like LOFAR, APERTIF

  18. Baseline design component: Sparse aperture arrays for the lowest frequencies LOFAR (Netherlands et al) MWA (USA, Australia)

  19. ATA (USA) MeerKAT 42x6m hydroformed dishes CART(Canada) 10 m composite prototype Baseline design component: Dishes + single pixel feeds MeerKAT (South Africa) 64x13.5-m composite dishes ASKAP (Australia) 36x12m panel dishes

  20. Advanced Instrumentation Program: dishes+multi-pixel feeds ASKAP chequer board array APERTIF (Astron, NL) DRAO Canada

  21. Advanced Instrumentation Program: dense aperture array EMBRACE 2-PAD FP6-SKADS

  22. SKA phase 2 SKA phase 1 Pawsey Centre Petascale System SDB ASKAP Fiber optic transmission NCI Altix tests Note that Flops numbers are not achieved - we actually get much lower efficiency because of memory bandwidth - so scaling is relative ASKAP dev cluster Signal transport, signal processing

  23. SKA Site • Physical requirements • Extremely radio quiet environment • At least 3000 km in extent • Low ionospheric turbulence • Low tropospheric turbulence • Two candidates short-listed in 2006 • Site selection process decision 2010 2011 2012 Site characterisation Site selection criteria established Site evaluation RFI measurements in progress

  24. South Africa + 7 countries

  25. WP1PrepSKA management (STFC, U Oxford, U Manchester) WP2Costed telescope design (SPDO) WP3Further site characterization in Australia+NZ and Southern Africa(SPDO) WP4Governance(NWO, NL) WP5Procurement and involvement of industry (INAF, Italy) WP6Options for funding (STFC, UK) WP7Impact on broad government priorities(U Manchester) WPs 3-7 will be completed by 31March 2011 WPs 1-2 by 31 March 2012 PrepSKA: 7 work packages

  26. Current Governance

  27. Funding agencies and governments from 12 countries (chair: UK Science and Technical Facilities Council) Aim is to deliver a Joint Agreement on the Implementation of the SKA in 2011/12 Work streams Pre-construction Funding and Interim Governance Site selection process Joint ASG-SSEC Working Group to establish selection criteria Agencies SKA Group

  28. Technical 2008-12 telescope system design and cost 2013-15 detailed design & pre-construction phase 2016-19 Phase 1 construction 2016 Advanced Instrumentation Program decision 2018-23 Phase 2 construction 2020 full science operations with Phase 1 2024 full science operations with Phase 2 Programmatic 2011 establish SKA organisation as a legal entity 2012 site selection 2014 construction funding approved for Phase 1 (350 M€, 2007) 2017 construction funding approved for Phase 2 (1.2 B€, 2007) Schedule for the SKA

  29. Further information www.skatelescope.org

  30. Green Bank Telescope Expanded Very Large Array Very Long Baseline Array Arecibo Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) Allen Telescope Array (ATA) SKA Precursors Karoo Array Telescope (meerKAT, ZA)

  31. Green Bank Telescope Expanded Very Large Array Very Long Baseline Array Arecibo Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) Allen Telescope Array (ATA) SKA Precursors • Meter-wavelength instruments • Epoch of Reionization • Sparse arrays • Signal transmission • Processing and data management Karoo Array Telescope (meerKAT, ZA)

  32. Green Bank Telescope Expanded Very Large Array Very Long Baseline Array Arecibo Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) Allen Telescope Array (ATA) SKA Precursors Karoo Array Telescope (meerKAT, ZA) • Large-Number–Small-Diameter Arrays • Galaxy Assembly & Evolution, Gravitational Physics, Dynamic Radio Sky, … • Novel antenna construction methods • Wide-band feeds • Field of view expansion • Signal transmission • Processing and data management

  33. Green Bank Telescope Expanded Very Large Array Very Long Baseline Array Arecibo Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) Allen Telescope Array (ATA) SKA Precursors • Existing facilities • Epoch of Reionization, Galaxy Assembly & Evolution, Gravitational physics, Dynamic Radio Sky, … • Wide band feeds • Field of view expansion • Signal transmission • Processing and data management Karoo Array Telescope (meerKAT, ZA)

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