New Zealand SKA Research & Development Consortium

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be one of the largest scientific projects ever undertaken. It is a machine designed to answer some of the big questions of our time: what is Dark Energy? Was Einstein right about gravity? What is the nature of dark matter? Can we detect gravitational waves? When and how did the first stars and galaxies form? What was the origin of cosmic magnetism? How do Earth-like planets form? Is there life, intelligent or otherwise, elsewhere in the Universe?

Exciting opportunities in SKA related research, engineering and development have been identified with the release of the draft SKA design reference. A clear emphasis is being placed by the New Zealand Government, Industrial Consortium and the Research community on traceability from our activities to the science objectives of the SKA (agreed in the industry/research/government SKA strategy planning session report). We invite you to think how you, or your organization, could contribute towards overcoming the technical challenges that stand in the way of these tremendous science goals.

New Zealand SKA Research and Development Consortium (SKARD) brings together New Zealand researchers exploring the new techniques for imaging and inference, application specific processing, focal-plane arrays, RF-quiet power supplies and digital radio systems that are needed for operation of the SKA.  This will enable coherent New Zealand-wide efforts to effectively contribute to the SKA project and to bring about a greater understanding of SKA requirements in key industry sectors.

The full terms of reference for the group can be found here and we welcome membership nominations which can be made to the executive. Note that New Zealand's overall SKA efforts are lead by the Ministry of Economic Development, under the guidance of Jonathan Kings and members of the government SKA project team. Contact information for the SKA team is here.

Currently our members are researchers from New Zealand's leading research universities.