The Korean VLBI Network: a national pathfinder for SKA science and technology
South Korea’s investment in the KVN has created a world-class scientific facility that serves as a direct technological and scientific pathfinder for the SKA Observatory.
Comprising three 21-metre radio telescopes spread across the country, the KVN functions as a dedicated millimeter-wavelength interferometer, providing South Korean scientists and engineers with over decades of hands-on experience in the exact skills required for SKA-VLBI science.
The KVN is more than just a telescope; it is a complete ecosystem for technological innovation. Its most distinctive feature is a unique receiver system capable of making simultaneous observations in four frequency bands (22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz). This system was designed to address one of the most challenging problems in high-frequency radio astronomy: correcting for atmospheric distortions that corrupt astronomical signals.
As a key partner in the East Asian VLBI Network which creates baselines of up to 5,000 km with telescopes in Japan and China, the KVN is central to a thriving international collaboration. This has produced over 100 scientific publications and has given the Korean community extensive experience in managing complex, multi-institution observing programs and processing large, distributed datasets at the Korea-Japan Correlation Center. This proven expertise in international scientific operations is directly transferable to the global SKA project.
