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The SKA was originally conceived in the early 90’s, and has been continuously developing since then.

The international project to plan and construct the telescope began in 2013, following selection of the sites in southern Africa and Australia in 2012.

SKA Project History  Official project timeline

  • 2013
    • Commencement of SKA Pre-construction Phase 1
  • 2016
    • Prototype deployment and critical design review
  • 2017-18
    • Tender and procurement
  • 2018
    • SKA Phase 1 construction starts
      • Low-frequency components – hundreds stations, each consisting of a few hundred low frequency antennas in Western Australia.
      • Dish array in South Africa – integrating the 64 existing MeerKAT dishes in the Karoo region.
  • 2018-2021
    • SKA Pre-construction Phase 2
  • 2020
    • Early science expected
  • Next decade
    • SKA Phase 2 Construction

Read on to the SKA’s benefits outside astronomy