NZ scales back support for colossal telescope project

Contribution to Square Kilometre Array build will be ‘proportionate’ to our size

New Zealand will remain involved — but to a lesser extent — in a global, multibillion-dollar project to build the world’s largest radio telescope.

And the visiting head of the consortium building the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) has acknowledged some Kiwi astronomers’ criticisms about the project’s shifting scope and schedule.

Once fully constructed across Australian and South African deserts in 2030, the vast array would be 100 times as sensitive as the biggest present-day telescopes and have image resolution quality 50 times the Hubble telescope’s.

Despite a failed joint bid with Australia to host part of the array, New Zealand has made it one of its biggest one-off strategic science expenditures, putting several million dollars into its development.

It has also contributed teams of researchers to develop its capabilities and been one of the founding members of the global SKA Organisation. But this week, the Government announced New Zealand’s continuing role would now be as an “associate member” and it would be making investments that were “pro-

This represents millions of dollars of investment and, hopefully, will lead to the development of new, disruptive technologies in the same manner as Wi-Fi, which was invented by radio astronomers. Professor Philip Diamond, SKA Organisation’s director-general

portionate to the size of its astronomy community”.

“It will also allow New Zealand to maintain engagement with the development of the cutting-edge ICT tools required to handle the massive amounts of data the telescope will generate.”

The decision was announced by Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods shortly after she met the organisation’s director-general, Professor Philip Diamond.

He told the Herald the cost of membership would be determined through negotiation, but was based on a measure of a country’s scientific capacity.

“This makes sense as countries essentially pay for access to the telescope.”

Diamond said his organisation saw the support of the Government and “most” of the astronomy community in the country as “strong”.

That was despite several leading New Zealand astronomers speaking out about how the SKA project had been down-scoped and its build timeline pushed out to the point it was a “thin-shadow” of what was talked about a decade ago.

Those astronomers were concerned the biggest science goals still fell inside the project’s next phase, which was vague, and that there was not enough consultation about our involvement in the first place.

“We hear the concerns, but we need to remember the SKA is not an experiment, it is a facility,” Diamond said.

“It is designed to be flexible, in order to do a wide range of science, and will constantly be upgraded.

“We are therefore confident it is of huge relevance to many fields of not just radio astronomy, but astronomy as a whole.”

Diamond said the contribution of industry was also crucial, and in New Zealand that involved companies such as Nyriad and others.

“This represents millions of dollars of investment and, hopefully, will lead to the development of new, disruptive technologies in the same manner as Wi-Fi, which was invented by radio astronomers.”