BAE Systems set to support multinational science project

The SKA will build the world’s largest-ever radio telescope network, which, among many other research projects, will enable astronomers to see the formation of the early universe, including the emergence of the first stars, galaxies and other structures.

BAE Systems’ UK engineers, based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight and in Chelmsford, Essex, are lending their project management skills to the SKA Program Development Office (SPDO) at Manchester University.

In return, BAE Systems’ engineers will gain insights into complex research that is pioneering the new radio-signal processing techniques required to handle data rates that far exceed anything seen to date.

At the same time, BAE Systems’ engineers in South Africa and Australia are supporting their respective countries’ bids to host the telescope.

In South Africa, BAE Systems has supplied antennas to the Karoo Array Telescope; in Australia, meanwhile, BAE Systems is an active member of the Australasian SKA Industry Consortium.

The SKA, which is expected to be fully operational by 2024, will seek to answer fundamental questions in physics and astrophysics.