Square Kilometre Array contest ends in a draw

My telescope is bigger than yours. That's the message South Africa is sending Australia and New Zealand after the African nation tied with the Oceanic duo to host the world's largest radio telescope.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will investigate the early history of the universe, dark energy, dark matter and gravity. Member countries of the SKA Organisation decided late last week that both proposed sites for the array ? in South Africa and Western Australia ? should help with those investigations.

The two sites will complement one another. The SKA has two lines of work: whole-sky surveys using low-frequency antennas, and more directed investigations using high-frequency antennas. South Africa will host the high-frequency dishes while the Western Australian site will host the low-frequency antennas.

The decision has been met with general satisfaction. But in a statement, Naledi Pandor, the South African minister of science and technology, expressed disappointment that her country will not host the telescope exclusively.

An independent SKA advisory committee "identified by consensus Africa as the preferred site", she said, claiming the decision to share the telescope was a compromise "in order to be inclusive".

Lion's share

The initial recommendation to favour South Africa was revealed in a report leaked to the media in March. But another committee was established soon after, tasked with evaluating the merit of a dual-site approach.

Both Pandor and Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president, emphasise that their country will host the "lion's share" of the telescope's infrastructure: more of the large radio dishes will be built in South Africa than Western Australia. Officials in Australia, meanwhile, have described the split as equitable.

In a joint statement, Pandor's Australian and New Zealand counterparts said the decision "capitalised on the strengths of each location" and would ensure the best results "scientifically and financially".

Brian Boyle, SKA director at CSIRO ? Australia's national science agency ? says the SKA Organisation realised over time that the telescope could be split between sites. He says the decision does not compromise any of the scientific aims.

The arrangement may incur extra initial costs, but with infrastructure already in place at both sites, there should be savings in the long run. "My view is that there can only be one winner from this split and that's the project itself," says Boyle.

The SKA will begin full science operations in 2020.

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