GO-SKA

GO-SKA: A proposal for coordinating & supporting policy development of the global organisation of the Square Kilometre Array

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a revolutionary telescope programme that will address a broad range of key science areas in astronomy and fundamental physics. For the past 2.5 years, radio astronomers and funding agencies have joined forces to explore the legal, policy, and technical framework required for the SKA in a Preparatory Phase study called PrepSKA. The principal deliverable of the PrepSKA project is an implementation plan that forms the basis of a funding proposal to governments to start the construction of the SKA. The end of PrepSKA is now approaching, and a number of major decisions need to be made so that the international SKA project can progress to the Pre‐Construction Phase (2012‐15). These decisions include approval of funding for the Pre‐Construction activities, the establishment of a legal entity for the SKA Organisation, and the selection of the SKA site. The decisions and the ensuing developments will have significant impact on the organisation of the SKA project and raise new topics to be investigated, in order to narrow down and implement the governance, funding and procurement options delivered by the PrepSKA policy work packages. The purpose of this project, called a 'Global Organisation for the SKA' or GO-SKA, is to investigate and provide guidance at policy-level to the SKA Organisation, so that it will be optimally prepared for the construction and operation of the SKA in 2016. Whereas PrepSKA has assembled the best options for the SKA, GO-SKA will focus on the further development and implementation during the next stage of the SKA Project.

GO-SKA will: • broaden and strengthen the involvement of funding agencies and governments around the globe; • establish world-wide partnerships between industry and the SKA; • prepare the establishment of global governance for the SKA organisation; and • develop strategies to further define the conditions by which non-scientific benefits from large scale research infrastructures can best be integrated into investment decision-making.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amendment (March 2014): In order to allow a full and effective execution of the GO-SKA project and its objectives, a good cooperation between the project and the SKA Organisation is essential. Due to the simultaneous start of the GO-SKA Project and the establishment of the SKA Organisation, the cooperation between the entities shaped up slowly. Both the appointment of Prof. Phil Diamond as the SKA Director General (September 2012) and the recent SKA Board decision to establish a Strategy and Business Development Commission (StratCom, April, 2013) allowed for a clear definition of the working arrangements between the SKA Organisation, the StratCom and the GO-SKA Project. As a result, GO-SKA has updated the Description of Work. Some of the deliverables and milestones of the work packages have been altered to better accommodate the needs of the SKA Organisation, but the overall GO-SKA objectives remain unchanged.

GO-SKA will work towards one integrated final deliverable, which will, among others, form a contribution to the coordinated Business Case for SKA1 construction. The different Work Packages refer to this final deliverable in the following ways: Work Package 2 refers to a coordinated Business Case (D2.3); Work Package 3 refers to the integrated plan for SKA1 (D3.3); Work Package 4 focuses on their specific contribution and refers to the SKA1 Global Collaboration agreement (D4.3); and Work Package 5 refers to the business case (D5.3). '

Introduzione (Teaser)

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is the world's biggest astronomy project that is aiming to address outstanding questions in astronomy and fundamental physics. EU--funded scientists are providing guidance at policy level to the agencies involved so that they are prepared to begin its construction in 2016.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The SKA radio telescope includes around 3 000 individual radio dishes and other receivers arranged like a spiral galaxy. Most of the telescopes will be concentrated in an inner core and the rest arranged into a set of arms up to 3 000 kilometers long. Fibre-optic cables will link each of these receivers to a central processing area, where supercomputers will join their data together.

When it will be fully operational and running, the SKA will be more than 50 times more sensitive than any other radio telescope. This power will be used to hunt for gravitational waves, namely ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity. It will probe the magnetic field that exists between stars and many more physical phenomena.

The technical framework assembling the best options for its construction had been prepared in 'A preparatory phase proposal for the square kilometre array' (PREPSKA). 'A proposal for coordinating & supporting policy development of the global organisation of the SKA' (GO-SKA) aims to follow up the implementation and procurement processes.

The GO-SKA project was initiated by funding agencies in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. The four project partners joined efforts to help the establishment of a new legal entity. Specifically, they worked together with the SKA's Strategy and Business Development Committee for the establishment of the SKA organisation in December 2011.

In addition, a roadmap was prepared with major decisions needed to be made so that the SKA project can progress to the pre-constructions phase. These decisions include approval of funding and more importantly, selection of the site where SKA will be constructed. Containing a detailed timeline, the roadmap should serve as a guide into the next phase.

In May 2012, the participating nations split the project between Africa and Australia, where precursor telescopes had been built and could be integrated into the SKA itself. The African component extends from South Africa and to Kenya and from Ghana to Madagascar.

The GO-SKA partners have raised public awareness of the socio-economic benefits of the SKA through a series of events. When the SKA project is complete, Africa and Australia will actively participate in a cutting-edge science endeavour that will be able to conduct sky scans more than ten thousand times faster than ever before.