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The SKA will operate over a range of frequencies from about 100 MHz to 25 GHz. The radio telescope array will deploy a collecting area of 1 million square meters and will be composed of a very large number of elements.

It provides high quality imaging of low brightness emission and also has high angular resolution with a milli-arcsecond scale imaging capability. The array configuration will include a compact core with about 50% of the collecting area within 5 km, an extended array containing about 75% of the collecting area within 150 km, and the rest in various distant stations out to at least 3000 km.

The SKA must be located at a site where there is the ability to do the best science at an affordable cost. Among the many site selection criteria are:
• Science drivers and sky coverage
• Radio quietness (free from Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) - radio, television, cell-phone, radar, telemetry and other transmissions.)
• Technical and scientific resources
• Physical characteristics of the site
• Tropospheric, atmospheric and ionospheric conditions
• Capital and operating costs

Following a request by the International SKA Steering Committee (ISSC) to the global radio astronomy community for Initial Site Analyses of potential locations for the SKA, six responses were received in the course of 2003 and 2004. After careful evaluation of these responses by the Site Evaluation Working Group (SEWG), the ISSC accepted the following five countries as candidate locations for the SKA: Argentina, Australia, China, South Africa, and the USA. Subsequently, the USA withdrew its bid for the SKA site leaving the other four countries as contenders.

(Click on the map to see location proposed)

The Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON) was contracted by the International SKA Project Office (ISPO) to carry out Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) calibration measurements for a month at each of the candidates sites from March 2005 to late 2005. The candidates sites themselves also performed RFI measurements over a period of 1 year.

Proposals for siting the SKA were received from the four candidates sites on 31 December 2005. Following a period of evaluation of the proposals and having taken account of the advice of an independent panel called the International SKA Site Advisory Committee, the ISSC decided that the short-list of acceptable sites for the SKA will comprise Australia and Southern Africa.

Additional studies of the characteristics of the short-listed sites will be carried out in 2007 and 2008. A final decision of the location of the SKA is expected thereafter.

More about RFI:
Radio astronomy and interferences (NRAO)
RFI 2004 meeting, Penticton (program and presentations)

More about RFI calibration measurements:
News 10.12.05 - SSSM in Argentina, a midway report
News 11.02.05 - SSSM in Australia
News 14.09.05 - SSSM in China
News 03.05.05 - SKA Site Spectrum Monitoring in South Africa

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