Fiona Bruce MP welcomes Universities Minister to Jodrell Bank to formally open revolutionary new radio telescope headquarters
The Jodrell Bank Observatory is to be home to the new SKA Headquarters as part of a joint initiative between The University of Manchester and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation.
The SKA will extend space exploration and will be a collaborative venture involving several countries – with its HQ at Jodrell Bank.
The Rt Hon David Willets MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science, formally opened the new Headquarters in the presence of Fiona Bruce MP for Congleton, David Rutley MP for Macclesfield, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell (President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester) and Mayor of Cheshire East, George Walton.
The SKA Headquarters are a £3.3m development built to house the staff for the Square Kilometre Array in a project that will join together thousands of receivers across an area the size of a continent, in Africa and Australia, to create the largest and most sensitive radio telescope ever built. The members of the SKA include Australia, China, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Construction of the receivers is expected to start in 2016. Upon completion it is hoped the SKA can address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe such as how the first stars and galaxies were formed and help in the search for other life in the universe.
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell spoke at the opening saying:
“This project is fantastic for engaging school children. Jodrell Bank it is not just a cutting edge science project but a great public venue. It will now become a real science and engineering hub, working with colleagues all over the world – an exciting place to work.”
The Rt Hon David Willetts MP formally opened the Headquarters and addressed those present saying:
“This is a truly global merger – one of the major international science projects now underway. This project is pushing the frontiers and that is why the Chancellor has awarded some of the extra £600m towards science development of last autumn towards the computing needed to handle the huge volume data flows. This is a global strategic project but one that Great Britain is a major player in.”
Fiona Bruce, in whose constituency the Lovell Telescope lies, said:
“With the Jodrell Bank telescope, standing in the Congleton constituency it is a great privilege for this truly international - indeed globally significant - space investigation venture to be centred right here.
This is a fantastic opportunity for The University of Manchester and the United Kingdom. Jodrell Bank has been at the forefront of radar technology since it became world famous in 1957 as the Lovell Telescope emerged as the only instrument capable of using radar to detect Russian satellite ‘Sputnik’.
In the 21st century this is another fascinating step forward into unravelling the mysteries of our universe and I am so proud that Jodrell Bank has been chosen as the headquarters for such a significant project.”
