Growth of SKAO teams in Australia and South Africa gathers pace

BY LETEBELE JONES AND LIZ WILLIAMS (SKAO)

The SKAO teams “in-country” are rapidly expanding, as construction activities continue to escalate in both Australia and South Africa.

South Africa

New employees are coming on board almost every month in South Africa; the 22 new hires so far this year include specialists in administration, assembly, integration and verification (AIV), IT, construction, communication, legal, finance and a variety of engineering portfolios. Pushing towards the ultimate goal of ~140 employees in the South Africa offices, progress is steady and positive.

The office in Cape Town is in the process of being established and will be ready in October 2022, with staff occupying interim office space until then. This will be the home of the SKA-Mid team for the next five years, until a permanent building is constructed and occupied in 2027.

Australia

In Australia, 23 staff are now employed across the Perth interim Science Operations Centre (iSOC) and the Geraldton interim Engineering Operations Centre (iEOC). Many key roles have been filled, including all those in the SKA-Low Australia executive team, with the heads of science operations, software and computing, and engineering operations now in place.

Both the iSOC and iEOC facilities have had furniture, branding and signage installed. In Perth, the iSOC is co-located in the CSIRO building , with a permanent home to be developed over the next few years. The EOC team has recently moved into their own building in Geraldton, which will be their base for the next five years, while a permanent EOC is built. The sITF (system Integration Testing Facility) team is currently preparing for the installation of electronics labs into the EOC, which will be instrumental in early integration and verification of SKA-Low telescope products, as well as a reverberation chamber for radio frequency interference (RFI) testing.

Travel between SKAO sites resumes

The relaxation of international travel restrictions across most countries this year has allowed visits between SKAO sites to increase.

In May and June, SKAO Director-General Prof. Phillip Diamond toured both telescope host countries – his first trip to Australia or South Africa since before the COVID-19 pandemic – providing a great opportunity to meet the teams in person as well as engaging with key partners in those countries, including government officials, diplomats, etc. In recent months, the teams in Australia and South Africa have also hosted other SKAO senior leaders, SKA-Mid and SKA-Low project teams, and have held high-level talks with government representatives and executives from collaborating organisations as part of the formal establishment of our intergovernmental organisation in the telescope host countries.

The easing of travel restrictions has enabled colleagues based in the telescope host countries to visit SKAO Global HQ in the UK, too. Although limited to business-critical missions, these in-person meetings and planning sessions taking place across the SKAO sites are invaluable to further cement relationships and share knowledge between colleagues, and such interactions will continue to be vital as construction and operations activities increase.

Prof. Phil Diamond visiting the SKA-Low building in Australia.

SKAO

Prof. Diamond meeting ambassadors to South Africa during his trip.

SKAO