Progress on show at first SKA telescopes status meetings

BY SKAO

The first Annual Status Update Meetings for the SKA-Low and SKA-Mid telescopes were held in February and May 2022 respectively, providing an overview of progress for a broad target audience ranging from external stakeholders (such as the SKAO’s Science and Engineering Advisory committee) to the internal telescope teams. The meetings spanned two days each and were attended by up to 150 participants spread between the SKAO HQ Council Chamber and those connecting remotely via Zoom.

The meetings covered the period looking back to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and ahead to AA0.5 (the first deployment of Mid dishes and Low antennas planned to start in mid-2023) and beyond.

Speakers were invited from across many of the key business areas, in order to help to drive alignment among the telescope teams and also contributing partners. Updates and forecasts were provided by teams across the SKAO, including Science, the Telescope Delivery Teams, Operations, the Product Delivery Teams, Software, assurance procurement support and business enabling teams.

“We will be holding these meetings annually to give everyone a clear view of where things stand for both SKA telescopes as we progress through construction,” says SKA-Mid Senior Project Manager Ben Lewis. “There’s real value to getting everyone in one room – whether real or virtual – to ask questions, hash out any issues, and also to understand the great progress that’s being made, which is sometimes harder to see for individuals or teams.”

The next editions of the telescope update meetings will likely take place in Q2 2023.

The SKA-Mid annual status meeting (pictured) in May followed the SKA-Low meeting in February.

SKAO