Events

4 JULY 2017 time 15:00
Colloquium

Current status of the Square Kilometre Array project

Dr. Gianni Comoretto (INAF - OAA, Italy)
Current status of the Square Kilometre Array project
The Square Kilometre Array is a radio telescope with a total collection 
area around one million square meters, covering the frequency range
between 50 MHz and 22 GHz. In the first phase, the instrument will have
about a tenth of the final collecting area, and will be composed of two
separate arrays: the Low Frequency Aperture Array, 130 thousands of
omnidirectional antennas between 50 and 350 MHz, and LFA-MID, 192 dishes
between 350 MHz and 14 GHz. Even in this version it is one of the most
complex scientific instruments ever conceived, with intermixed scientific,
technological, managerial and political issues. In this year the design
phase will be concluded. The Italian radio astronomic community has been
deeply involved, in particular in developing the digital beamformer for
the LFAA. This beamformer will also be used in the Sardinia Array
Demonstrator (SAD) and for a cryogenic Phased Array Feed (PAF) in the
C band (PHAROS2, 4-8 GHz), that could be installed, in the near future,
at the prime focus of the 64 meters Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT).