Hope remains for Australia's telescope bid
The scientific director of Australia's bid to host the world's largest radio telescope says he is confident the proposal is still under close consideration
Australia and New Zealand have a joint bid to secure the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) but are facing tough competition from South Africa.
Australia hopes to build the $2 billion project on a remote sheep station in Western Australia's Mid West.
CSIRO project director Brian Boyle says he cannot comment on news reports that the expert panel has endorsed South Africa as the scientifically superior location.
But he says he is confident Australia still has a strong prospect of securing the project.
He says the expert panel's recommendation will be the beginning of the decision-making process, rather than the final result.
"The members at their next meeting on April 3 will likely use that as a starting point for discussion with the sites," he said.
Dr Boyle says his staff are still actively involved in discussions to secure the project ahead of the meetings between investor nations in Amsterdam next week.
"Very much we're still in the frame and we're still doing a significant body of work to promote the site," he said.
If Australia wins the SKA project, thousands of antennas will be built.
The telescope will be able to discover hundreds of times more galaxies than current radio telescopes and in a single day it will be able to generate more information than currently exists in all of the world's radio astronomy archives.
The SKA project is made up of a consortium of nine countries spanning Europe, Africa and the Pacific.
The consortium will donate a combined total of $150 million each year to fund the building and operation of the SKA.