CSIRO’s Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is well on target, as construction

Construction of CSIRO's Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope has begun in Western Australia. Image courtesy CSIRO.

Shortly, designers from CSIRO and the 54th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC54) will complete and test the first 12-metre antenna at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Mid West region of Western Australia.

The ASKAP will reach 18 metres in height – about the same height as a four-storey building. A large crane was required to lift the pedestal, reflector dish and feed support into position.

ASKAP project director Dr David DeBoer says CSIRO is very excited about the project milestone.

"The CSIRO and CETC54 construction team have made tremendous progress on building the first of ASKAP’s antennas, especially in very hot summer conditions," Dr DeBoer says.

"The ASKAP antenna is an extremely innovative design, having three moving axes (altitude, azimuth and polarisation) where the entire dish rotates in unison with the sky.

This feature means that the radio signals arriving at the antenna’s phased array receiver or ‘radio camera’ are fixed in time, making the processing of the signals much simpler than with conventional designs."

According to CSIRO, the first six antennas are due to be operational by 2011 and the complete ASKAP system is expected to be completed by 2013.

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