Foreword by Prof. Philip Diamond

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Welcome to this, the fourth edition of Contact. The magazine provides some fascinating stories of happenings across the SKA partnership. It is especially uplifting to read these and to see the international collaboration that SKA embodies be so active in these difficult times. As I wrote the introduction for the previous issue of Contact, COVID-19 was severely affecting some countries, and as we all know, it has now spread across the globe. I’m not sure that any of us could have predicted the impact this would have on our daily lives, and the sadness it would bring to so many. I do hope that we are beginning to see positive signs from all that the world’s people and governments have done.

In the SKA, as for many activities around the world, we have had to learn a different way of working. The use of Zoom and video-conferencing from home, which has been such a boon to us all, would likely not have been possible just a few years ago. I’m sure we all remember the earlier days of unreliable video-conferencing and low internet bandwidths. It is somewhat ironic that the digital communications revolution which underlies the technology of the SKA, is the same that has made it possible for a good fraction of the world’s business to continue during the pandemic.

Within the project, work has continued at pace. The external review of the Operations Plan was a great success, as was the Cost Review conducted by the engineering firm Arup. They, along with the System Critical Design Review completed in March, have given great confidence to me, the senior team at SKAO and our international stakeholders that the SKA is proceeding to construction. Our staff are now heavily focused on finalising the SKA1 Construction Proposal and what we call the Observatory Establishment and Delivery Plan (which combines Operations, the Development Programme and the so-called business-enabling functions, such as HR, Finance, Procurement, Communications etc); these key documents will be submitted to the SKA Organisation Board later in the year for sign-off and will then be passed to the Council of the SKA Observatory, when it has been established.

On that last point, it was extremely gratifying to see, literally as I write this, the press release issued which announces that the Republic of South Africa has ratified the SKA Observatory Convention. South Africa is the third country to ratify, and the first of our three host countries. I am hopeful that we’ll see the ratification process completing in other partner countries in the near future.

I hope you and your families remain safe.

Prof. Philip Diamond, SKA Director-General

A screenshot of the 32nd meeting of the SKA Board of Directors, taking place virtually on Zoom.

Credit: SKAO. All rights reserved.