‘Are we alone in the universe?’: work begins in Western Australia on world’s most powerful radio telescopes

An artist’s impression of SKA-Low on Wajarri country in Western Australia. Its tree-like antennas will map the sky 135 times faster than existing telescopes. Illustration: Department of Industry, Science and Resources

Construction of the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory, the Square Kilometre Array, has officially begun in Australia after three decades in development.

A huge intergovernmental effort, the SKA has been hailed as one of the biggest scientific projects of this century. It will enable scientists to look back to early in the history of the universe when the first stars and galaxies were formed. It will also be used to investigate dark energy and why the universe is expanding, and to potentially search for extraterrestrial life.