SKAO in 2023: celebrating the year plans became reality

News
on 03 January 2024
The year 2023 saw huge progress across the SKAO and our partner organisations, as construction began in earnest at the telescope sites in Australia and South Africa, and the production of components ramped up around the globe.

In only one year since the Construction Commencement Ceremonies of 5 December 2022, on-site infrastructure was deployed, contractors from local and Indigenous communities were hired and trained, the first SKA-Low antennas were manufactured and shipped from Italy to Australia, the first SKA-Mid dish began its ocean crossing from China to South Africa, and dozens of contracts for hardware and software were awarded to industry across SKAO partner countries.

In this video filmed at the end of 2023, SKAO Head of Programme Dr Joe McMullin and Site Construction Directors Ant Schinckel and Tracy Cheetham took stock of how far the SKAO has come, and discuss the immense human efforts that are behind this progress, their personal highlights, and what is to come in a very busy 2024, when the first antennas of both telescopes will be installed on site.

Can't access the video above? Download the file here.