Following a vote in the Swedish Parliament, Sweden is joining the SKA Observatory – the world's most advanced radio telescope – as an official member.
“Sweden aims to be a world-class research nation. Joining SKAO gives us the opportunity to open for completely new science in collaboration with several other countries,” says Johan Pehrson, Swedish Minister for education – and space.
Sweden is also joining another international project: Lofar Eric, the world's largest and most sensitive telescope for low radio frequencies.
Photographer: SKAO
Following a vote in Parliament on April 29, Sweden is now joining the SKA Observatory (SKAO), one of the world's largest research collaborations. The observatory will consist of two advanced and extremely sensitive telescopes currently being built in South Africa and Australia, from where they will capture radio waves from the universe. SKAO will provide researchers with enormous amounts of data and revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and the fundamental laws of physics. Already during the construction process, the telescope has presented its first image of the Universe.
The go-ahead for membership came in January when Sweden's ambassador to the UK signed the convention for the SKA Observatory, in the presence of representatives from the Government Offices, the Swedish Research Council and Chalmers. The parliamentary vote and the signing also followed a previous government decision with the intention for Sweden to join the research collaboration.
Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers have represented Sweden in the SKAO collaboration until now. The observatory also hosts the Swedish SKA Regional Center (sweSRC) node, which will help astronomers to handle the huge amounts of data that SKAO will deliver.
Chalmers has participated in the preparatory work for the decisions in the government and parliament and has highlighted the opportunities that membership brings for both technology development and business opportunities for Swedish companies in areas of strategic importance to Sweden. Technology companies Qamcom and AAC Omnisys, both based in West Sweden, have already been awarded significant contracts for work with the telescopes. In addition, the RISE research institute has been designated as the test facility for the telescopes' sensitive instruments.
Sweden will officially become a member after the government deposits its ratification decision with the government of the UK, where the SKAO has its headquarters.
Photographer: Chalmers/Magnus Falck
Lofar - low frequency cooperation across Europe
Sweden is also a new member of another international project, Lofar, which is an official signpost for SKAO's telescope in Australia. The Lofar radio telescope consists of 52 antenna stations around Europe, centered in the Netherlands - one of the stations is located at Onsala Space Observatory in northern Halland.
Since 2023, the telescope has been operated by a consortium established among EU countries (a so-called ERIC, European Research Infrastructure Consortium). Sweden has been part of the research collaboration for a long time, and will now become a member of the new Lofar ERIC.
Lofar is the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope operating at low frequencies (10-240 MHz). It consists of 52 antenna stations strategically located across Europe: the Netherlands, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, with the construction of two more international stations planned in Italy and Bulgaria.
Lofar is currently undergoing a major upgrade (Lofar 2.0) that will significantly improve and expand its scientific research capabilities.
John Conway, Director of the Onsala Space Observatory, has been a long-time advocate for Sweden's participation in the global SKA collaboration and in the European Lofar.
For him, membership of both SKAO and LOFAR means great opportunities for Swedish research on the universe, and for the development of technology for two of the world's most advanced radio wave facilities.
“We are extremely pleased that Sweden has now officially joined Lofar Eric as a member. We look forward to soon upgrading our station to the new Lofar 2.0 standard and to working closely with colleagues around Europe to jointly operate the state-of-the-art Lofar telescope, enabling new discoveries in astronomy”.
“Sweden becoming an official member of both SKAO and Lofar Eric means a big boost for the country's opportunities in research and technology for radio astronomy. I am really proud of everything we have achieved so far and really look forward to the discoveries and technological advances that this means in the future”, says John Conway.
More info and images:
Download moving press material from the construction of the SKA-MID radio telescope in South Africa, source: SKAO:
- The first SKA antenna dances together with the antennas of the existing MeerKAT telescope.
- Several scenes from the construction of the SKA-Mid telescope in South Africa.
Download images and video in the press material from the construction of the SKA-LOW radio telescope in Australia, source: SKAO
Collections of media are also available in the SKA Observatory press room.