Context:
India has decided to formally join the Square Kilometer Array
Square Kilometer Array:
- Not a single large telescope
- A collection of thousands of dish antennas operating as single unit
- Mostly located in – South Africa, Australia
- Timeline- first phase to be completed by 2025
- Specialty- World’s largest radio telescope
India and Square Kilometer Array
- India has been involved in the project right from its inception in 1990s
- Location- None of the SKA facilities would be located in India
- Benefit- India get preferential access to SKA facilities
- Authority- led by Pune based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA)
- Current Radio Astronomy facility in India- Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope near Pune
- Other similar facilities – Ooty, Nainital and Bengaluru.
Other mega science projects involved by India
- LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory)-
- Aim – to detect gravitational waves from the universe.
- Location – Hingoli, Maharashtra.
- ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) –
- Location – France
- Aim – To build the world’s largest tokamak, an experimental machine to harness the energy of nuclear fusion.
Radio Telescope
- A radio telescope is an astronomical instrument consisting of a radio receiver and an antenna system that is used to detect radio-frequency radiation.
- Major Radio Telescopes across world:
- Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope- Pune, India
- SARAS 3 -Karnataka, India
- Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) -Atacama Desert, Chile
- Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) -China
Source: The Indian Express
Previous Year Question
In the context of modern scientific research, consider the following statements about ‘Ice Cube’, a particle detector located at South Pole, which was recently in the news:
1. It is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometer of ice.
2. It is a powerful telescope to search for dark matter.
3. It is buried deep in the ice.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Service Exam- 2015 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d)
