Square Kilometre Array: Towards Construction

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The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the world's largest, most sensitive radio telescope and will deliver transformational science. It will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including 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 the search for life beyond Earth. The SKA is a global project, currently with 12 full members. The observatory will be sited in three countries and continents with the headquarters in the UK and two telescope sites one in South Africa and the other in Western Australia. The UK has been heavily involved in the design work for the telescope, leading several key areas. We now seek to capitalize on this leadership by positioning the UK to win contracts during SKA construction, particularly in the areas of software development, consultancy and support for hardware systems delivery, and also to continue participation in the development of Regional Centres and thereby to maintain the leadership position we have established so that future participation in the Advanced Instrumentation Programme and future directions of the instrument will be maintained.The UK has successfully led two of the SKA international design consortia, Science Data Processing (SDP) and Signal and Data Transport (SaDT). In addition, UK teams have led the design of the Non-Imaging Processor (NIP), the core sub-system for Pulsar science; Observation Management (OM), part of the Telescope Manager; the Band 5 (4.6-15.4 GHz) feed package for SKA1-MID; and the log-periodic antennas (SKALA4) and beamformer digital system for SKA1-Low. The focus of this application is therefore to maximise the UK role and return in the construction phase of the SKA and to help ensure the best possible facility for the UK community. To achieve this objective we propose a programme of work in those areas we have already established leadership. In addition to the technical deliverables the programme also needs to: ensure we retain the expertise and skills developed during the pre-construction period and interest from UK industry in preparation for construction; work with industry partners and international partners to prepare to respond to tenders for construction work when they become available; establish a UK SKA project office bringing together and strengthening policy and engineering activity.