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The cover
from Contact 04
The SKA-MPG prototype dish in the Karoo, South Africa. In 2014, building on previous work and following the recommendations of a committee of independent experts, the SKA Dish design consortium selected the final design for the SKA dish, jointly developed under the lead of the German company MTM and CETC54 from China. To give the Dish consortium fresh momentum, in 2015 the Max Planck Society increased their activity by funding a cooperation of the Max-Planck- Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR) and MTM to build a second dish, the so-called SKA-MPG dish demonstrator pictured here in addition to a first prototype funded by CETC54. Following the successful outcome of the Detailed Design Review for the SKA dish in China in November 2016, the two dishes were manufactured. The first one, SKA-P, was inaugurated in February 2018 at the CETC factory plant in Shijiazhuang, China, while SKA-MPG was shipped out to the South African SKA site in the Karoo to be assembled and commissioned in real site conditions.
Credit: Enrico Sacchetti. All rights reserved.
Contact – The SKA magazine
Contact is the SKA magazine. Published by SKAO's Communications team, the magazine brings together articles from scientists, engineering, design and construction teams, related facilities and telescopes and government partners. In this issue we cover the signing of the SKA treaty and the inauguration of the SKA's Global Headquarters. Also featured is the SKA's first science data challenge for the community, a testing campaign on SKA-Low prototype antennas using drones, as well as a touring exhibition in India and many more contributions covering updates from around the world!
About Contact
Editor: William Garnier / W.Garnier@skatelescope.org
Editorial team: Mathieu Isidro, Cassandra Cavallaro / skao-outreach@skatelescope.org
Design: Joe Diamond / Based on an original design from Carbon Creative.
We welcome your contributions to Contact! Find out how to submit ideas here.
All images in Contact are courtesy of SKAO unless otherwise indicated.
Contact is produced primarily as a digital magazine.
About the SKA
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation leads an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope. The SKA will be constructed in Australia and South Africa with a later expansion in both countries and into other African countries. Its global headquarters is located at Jodrell Bank in the UK. The SKA will conduct transformational science and help to address fundamental gaps in our understanding of the Universe including the formation and evolution of galaxies, fundamental physics in extreme environments and the origins of life in the Universe.
