The Australia - New Zealand Site Bid
CSIRO, on behalf of the Australasian SKA Consortium, submitted a proposal to host the SKA in Australia in December 2005. In September 2006 the Australian site was short listed, along with Southern Africa, to host this global facility. In August 2009 Australia and New Zealand signed an agreement to make a joint bid for the SKA, which would offer the international science community the opportunity to build an SKA with antennas located along a 5000km baseline.
World-class Site for Radio Astronomy
Australia is now establishing one of the world's premier sites for radio astronomy, in the sparsely populated Mid West region of Western Australia. The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) is the Australia - New Zealand candidate SKA core site as well as the location of the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and other international projects.
The region around the MRO is characterised by an extremely low population density, excellent observing conditions (stable climate and quiet ionosphere) and a pristine radio-quiet environment. Australia is protecting the radio quietness of the site through the establishment of the Mid West Radio Quiet Zone.
· Australia and New Zealand have high quality observing conditions for radio astronomy, in particular, extreme radio quietness and excellent atmospheric conditions;
· New Zealand and Australia offer security, an attractive lifestyle and conducive business environment;
· New Zealand ranks 2nd and Australia 9th out of 181 economies surveyed for "Ease of Doing Business" (World Bank Group, 2009);
· Australia's land mass can accommodate the concentration of radio antennas in the core "radio-quiet zone" as well as the peripheral antennas in New Zealand and spread out over an area up to 5000 km from the core site;
· Australian and New Zealand governments and key stakeholder communities are committed to working together effectively on the project;
· Australia's radio astronomy community is world class, producing 4.2 per cent of the world’s astronomy papers, with these papers cited 1.4 times the world average for astronomy papers;
· The CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) ranks second in the world among the institutions providing world-class radio astronomy facilities (in terms of the number of refereed papers it generates);
· Australia and New Zealand have the capacity to provide reliable and cost effective infrastructure and maintenance to the SKA throughout its lifetime.
We acknowledge the Wajarri Yamatji people as the traditional owners of the Observatory site.
Image: Panorama of the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, home of the anzSKA candidate core site, ASKAP and other international projects.
Credit: Paul Bourke and Jonathan Knispel. Supported by WASP (UWA), iVEC, ICRAR, and CSIRO.