Collaborating on the design and delivery of the world's largest science facility

Look up at the sky after sunset and the familiar panorama of bright stars emerge. It’s a sight people see on countless occasions, yet so often with intrigue, as the tantalising opportunity to expand our understanding of the Universe continues.

The international SKA project will enable us to do just that. A global science and engineering effort to deliver the largest science facility on the planet, the SKA will comprise two of the world’s largest radio telescopes, built in Australia and South Africa. It will deliver benefits to society through global collaboration and innovation and enable astronomers to address gaps in our understanding of the Universe – including the formation and evolution of galaxies, fundamental physics in extreme environments and the origins of life.

Collaboration on a global scale

The SKA radio telescopes will be built and operated by the SKA Observatory (SKAO), an intergovernmental organisation composed of member states from five continents and headquartered in the UK. The low-frequency array, SKA-Low, will be built in Western Australia’s Murchison region on Wajarri Yamatji country, and the mid-frequency array, SKA-Mid, will be located in the remote Karoo region of South Africa.

International engineering, design and advisory firm, Aurecon, in partnership with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, formed the Infrastructure Australia consortium for design and construction management of the Australian component of the site infrastructure, power distribution and on-site computing buildings for the SKA-Low Telescope.

SKA-Low Telescope infrastructure

The SKA-Low Telescope will be an array of more than 130,000 twometre-tall antennas grouped into 512 stations, spanning a distance of 65 km. Associated infrastructure includes roads and tracks, fibre and power distribution, communications, site monitoring, and buildings.

Ground preparation for the antennas and the road designs will utilise construction techniques consistent with general practice in the remote area. Cleared areas will be kept to a minimum, and existing tracks or previous routes retained as far as possible to minimise disturbance to vegetation, the natural lay of the land and Indigenous culturally significant sites.

"It will deliver benefits to society through global collaboration and innovation and enable astronomers to address gaps in our understanding of the Universe – including the formation and evolution of galaxies, fundamental physics in extreme environments and the origins of life.”

Central computing building

Critical to the future operation of the SKA-Low Telescope will be the on-site central computing building. The central building has been designed to prevent radio frequency signals (or noise) from the vast array of electronic and electrical equipment contained inside the building interfering with the sensitive receiving antennas outside.

Digital design and pre-fabrication

Design of the control building was optimised and modelled in Building Information Modelling (BIM) software and then converted into a virtual reality simulation to immerse stakeholders inside the building to test useability and layout in real time. The building and associated facilities will be pre-fabricated and brought to site as the largest possible modules as an optimum logistics solution to minimise truck movements to the remote location.

Award-winning designs

The design of the SKA-Low site infrastructure took out the 2022 Consult Australia Awards for Excellence Innovative Design Award, and received a highly commended for Collaboration for Project Excellence. Construction on the SKA-Low Telescope is due to commence in late 2022.

Image: SKAO / ICRAR