Jan 27, 2026 | All, Science, SKAO
27/01/2026 – The SKA Observatory’s growing telescope array in South Africa, SKA-Mid, has achieved “first fringes” using two of its dishes, a milestone that demonstrates it is operating as an interferometer for the first time.
“This is the first true test that all our systems are working together, and that the SKA-Mid telescope is alive as a scientific instrument,” said SKAO Director-General Prof. Philip Diamond.
“Having each dish observe the sky individually is an achievement, but having them operate in concert as one telescope is a much bigger technical challenge, and our teams have now achieved that milestone.”
SKA-Mid, like its counterpart SKA-Low in Australia, is an array where many individual antennas are connected by optical fibre to act like one much larger telescope, equivalent in size to the distance between its furthest antennas. "Fringes” are obtained when signals received by two or more antennas are combined successfully.
One of the seven SKA-Mid dishes now constructed on site in South Africa's Northern Cape, with SARAO's MeerKAT radio telescope in the background. Credit: SKAO/Max Alexander.
Two of SKA-Mid's 15m-diameter dishes were used together to achieve the result, observing a radio galaxy estimated to be around 2.6 billion light years away.
“This source has been well studied so we know what the signal should look like, and that’s what we observed with this first fringes result. It confirms that all our hardware and software systems are working as we designed them to do, giving us confidence as we begin to commission the telescope,” said Dr Betsey Adams, SKA-Mid Commissioning Scientist.
“That includes seeing that the dishes can track across the sky in a coordinated way under the control of the telescope manager software, the receivers are being cooled to the required temperature of minus 250°C, the synchronisation and timing system is accurately timing signals from the different dishes to a billionth of a second, and the correlator is correctly processing and aligning the data.”
SKA-Mid now has seven dish structures assembled on site in the Northern Cape, with a further 12 on their way from the manufacturers CETC54 in China. When complete the telescope will comprise 197 dishes, including the integration of the existing MeerKAT radio telescope built and operated by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). The hardware and software for the SKA telescopes are being developed in the Observatory's member states, including Spain. Specifically, the time signal distribution and synchronisation system, which is key to performing interferometry. This technology has been developed by the Spanish company Safran Electronics & Defence Spain, based in Granada, which is also responsible for the same system for the SKA-Low telescope in Australia.
“Starting the year with this news is a huge boost for the teams that have worked extremely hard to see it happen, including SKAO and SARAO colleagues, and our global and local partners who are contributing to the infrastructure, hardware and software for SKA-Mid,” said Ben Lewis, SKA-Mid Senior Project Manager.
“With all we’ve learned from these months building up to first fringes, we’re in a strong position to achieve our next milestone – the first image from a four-dish array within the next few months – and then to see SKA-Mid gradually grow in size and capabilities from there.”
Across the ocean in Australia, the SKA-Low telescope continues to grow at pace. Around 70 antenna stations, each comprising 256 antennas, have now been installed at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia. Last year its first image was released, using an early version of the telescope comprising four connected stations – 1,024 antennas – or less than 1% of the complete telescope.
As work continues to commission stations and integrate them into the array, planning is underway for the start of science verification activities with SKA-Low in 2027, when the first data will be released to the community for test observations.
Jan 16, 2026 | All, Industry, SKA-spain
16/01/2026 – El equipo de coordinación de la participación nacional en el proyecto SKA asistió el pasado mes de diciembre a la II Jornada de Grandes Infraestructuras de Investigación del CSIC y al Big Science Industry Forum Spain (BSIFS).
The coordination team for the Spanish participation in the SKA project (SKA-Spain) took part in two national forums related to large scientific infrastructures, reinforcing the key role of the scientific community and national industry in areas such as scientific data management, Open Science, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence.
Within the framework of the II Jornada de Grandes Infraestructuras de Investigación del CSIC, held on 2nd December, Julián Garrido from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), and co-PI of the SKA-Spain coordination, participated in the round table “EOSC en el CSIC. Gestión de datos en las Grandes Infraestructuras de Investigación: estrategia, impacto y ciencia abierta”. During his intervention, Garrido presented the SKA Observatory (SKAO) as an example of an infrastructure that will foster Open Science, highlighting the challenges associated with managing massive data volumes (on the order of hundreds of petabytes per year). He also emphasized the role of the international SKA Regional Centres (SRCNet) as a key element to guarantee access, processing and scientific reuse of these data.
The discussion underscored the need for robust institutional strategies and sustained funding for data management, as well as the importance of integrating the FAIR principles and Open Science as foundational elements of scientific infrastructures. In this context, the efforts made in Spain to incorporate scientific reproducibility as a success metric within the SKA were highlighted, along with initiatives to ensure that, after embargo periods, data are integrated into public archives accessible to the scientific community. The potential role of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as a reference framework to reduce technological barriers for researchers and data managers was also discussed.
From left to right: Carmen García (IFIC-CSIC – Chair of the CSIC ICTS-IEI Advisory Committee and moderator of the session); Isabel Campos (IFCA-CSIC – Data Representative of the CSIC ICTS-IEI Advisory Committee); Julián Garrido (IAA-CSIC – co-PI of the coordination of SKA-Spain); Ramón Carbonell (GEO3BCN-CSIC – Vice-Chair of the CSIC ICTS-IEI Advisory Committee); and Javier Bustamante (EBD-CSIC – Deputy Director of the ICTS-DOÑANA).
On the other hand, the SKA project was also represented at the Big Science Industry Forum Spain (BSIFS), held on 3–4th December 2025. The participation of Spanish companies involved in the project, together with the SKA-Spain coordination team, made it possible to share experience in flagship scientific infrastructures such as the SKAO, particularly in aspects related to large-scale data management, Open Science, and sustainability. Specifically, Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (IAA-CSIC), coordinator of SKA-Spain, took part in the round table “Transformación digital e Inteligencia Artificial”This session, focused on interaction between science and industry, addressed the impact of Artificial Intelligence as a driver of technological, productive, and social change. During her intervention, Verdes-Montenegro highlighted the role of the TED4SKA project in developing AI-based solutions to optimize energy sustainability and data management at the Spanish node of the SRCNet (espSRC), stressing the need to ensure the reproducibility and reliability of scientific results in an increasingly automated environment.
From left to right: José Luis Dessy (Director of the AI Granada Foundation); Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (Research Professor at IAA-CSIC and Coordinator of SKA-Spain); Juan Alberto Vecino (Director of HI Iberia); María Ortiz (Head of Artificial Intelligence at F4E); Santiago Ferrer (Director of Industrial Programs 5.0 at CT Ingenieros); and Eric Fernandez (CEO of Ineustar and session moderator).
The BSIFS also highlighted the importance of strengthening connections between large scientific infrastructures and the national industrial ecosystem, identifying the need for specialized talent, public–private cooperation, and regulatory frameworks that promote the responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence. “The organization of this type of activity helps to establish highly valuable dialogues for the scientific community, the science industry, and society,” notes Verdes-Montenegro. In this context, the event organizers facilitated meetings between participants. The coordination team held formal meetings with seven companies that expressed interest in the SKAO and the SRCNet, as well as in potential future opportunities for industrial participation.
