The University of Malta is working to be­come a significant element in key inter­national scientific research in the construction of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The SKA, considered one of the world’s most exciting international science projects, is set to give humanity new and unparalleled insights into the universe. It will investigate how the first stars and galaxies formed after the big bang, how dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the universe, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gra­vity, and will even search for life beyond Earth.

Scientists believe the SKA’s unparalleled sensitivity and ability to image such huge portions of the sky at up to 10,000 times the speed of current survey telescopes will pro­duce detailed information and provide ans­wers to many more fundamental ques­tions about mysteries that baffle scientists today.

Construction of the SKA is due to begin in 2018 using a phased development approach, so scientific output will come even before the project is completed and is fully operational in 2024, by which time several thousand combined radio telescopes will be collecting and processing data equivalent to 100 times today’s global internet traffic.

Even before the SKA comes online, a series of demonstrator telescopes and systems are already operational or under development across the world, paving the way for the kinds of technology the SKA will need to pioneer to make the huge data available to scientists.

The University has developed a novel, ultra-wideband, low-cost antenna to be submitted as a contending technology for the SKA project. Its planar structure means it is easy to manufacture and transport. Although it was initially designed as a low-cost solution for the SKA project, it has other applications in sectors such as telecommunications, mari­time surveillance and radar.

For a technology to be chosen by the SKA project it must prove itself in a real envi­ronment, something not yet achieved for this novel design. To do that, a large-scale proto­type must be installed and validated in the real environment, ideally an SKA site in South Africa or Australia. Technology which estab­lishes a presence in such a location first will obviously be ahead of other technology in terms of gathering the necessary data for the selection stage.

The University has already created and successfully tested the first small-scale proto­type with 256 antenna elements, and is now in the process of creating a medium-sized prototype which will consist of 5,000 antenna elements, which it will be able to test in an environment close to an actual one. It is being funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology through the National Research and Inno­vation programme 2014.

The basic design process for some of the system electronics was kick-started through support from the Takeoff Seed Fund Award and the Malta Communi­cations Authority. The back end software will be designed by Ascent Software Ltd, a partner on the project.

The antenna market is mature, with several alternative designs available. However, none are able to support such a large bandwidth ratio (1:10) while satisfying all the require­ments of the SKA. Relative to existing antenna design, using mass-production techniques enables the university to build the same array 10 times cheaper. This is key to making the overall SKA project financially feasible.

The University team is led by Charles Sam­mut from the Department of Physics and in­cludes Kristian Zarb Adami and Eman Farhat from the Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy .

www.skatelescope.org

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