The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Switzerland wants to extend giant radio telescope cooperation

A prototype demonstrator at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Obervatory in Western Australia.
The Aperture Array Verification System 2.0 (AAVS2.0), a prototype demonstrator at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Obervatory in Western Australia. Credit: Michale Goh/ICRAR-Curtin

The Swiss government wants to increase Switzerland’s involvement in the building of the world’s largest-ever radio telescope. The “Square Kilometer Array Observatory” (SKAO) project involves 13 countries and is intended to unravel certain mysteries of the universe.

The Federal Council has requested parliament to approve CHF24.7 million ($27.4 million) to extend Switzerland’s participation in the SKAO project up to 2030. Last September, parliament approved a budget of CHF8.9 million for Switzerland to join the SKAO.

A Swiss study has showed that “only by becoming a full member [of the SKAO] can Switzerland get a satisfactory return on its investment,” the government said in a statement on Friday.

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory, the most sensitive radio telescope developed so far, is being constructed to research the origin of the very first stars and galaxies. Other areas of research will include the role of cosmic magnetism, the nature of dark matter, life forms in the universe, dark energy and gravitation. The project is expected to cost a total of €1.9 billion.

The telescope will be built in the coming years on two sites. South Africa will raise 130 antennas of a diameter of 15 metres, while 130,000 TV-style antennas will be erected in Australia.

The SKAO, which is managed and funded by the UK, Australia and South Africa, is designed to detect radio waves emanating from celestial objects, the same type of emissions used for example by smartphones. It is thus distinguished from most telescopes which are based on detecting visible light.

The telescope will collect unprecedented amounts of data, which will require the world’s fastest supercomputers to process in near real time, before turning these into science projects for distribution among partner countries. 

The Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), which is a member of the SKAO organisation, is the lead institution coordinating contributions from the Swiss academic community. More than 50 scientists drawn from universities and research hubs across Switzerland are participating in the endeavour.

Swiss academic institutions are helping through research and development in the field of distributed high-performance computing (HPC), machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are assisting with data processing, system control and supervision, antennas and radio receivers, in addition to precise time management through the use of maser atomic clocks.

More

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Cyberattacks on Swiss companies increase by 9 per cent

More

Cyberattacks on Swiss companies increase by 9%

This content was published on Swiss companies are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals. In the past quarter, every single company in this country was the target of a cyber attack an average of 1097 times a week.

Read more: Cyberattacks on Swiss companies increase by 9%
21 minutes of power interruption per end customer in 2024

More

Swiss households faced 21 minutes of power outages in 2024

This content was published on End customers experienced an average of 21 minutes of electricity interruption in 2024. This resulted in 0.34 power outages per capita. The duration of electricity interruptions increased by three minutes compared to the previous year.

Read more: Swiss households faced 21 minutes of power outages in 2024
SMEs struggle to find staff, 'employees have more power'

More

Swiss SMEs struggling to find employees

This content was published on Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling to find staff, a problem made more acute by the increased bargaining power of employees and increased absenteeism.

Read more: Swiss SMEs struggling to find employees
Demonstrators attack Israeli mission in Geneva

More

Activists deface Israel’s UN mission in Geneva

This content was published on Late on Thursday in Geneva, pro-Palestinian demonstrators attacked the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in the international organisations district. They poured red paint over the entrance to the building.

Read more: Activists deface Israel’s UN mission in Geneva

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR