Coordination of the Spanish participation in the SKA project

Spain's participation in the SKA dates back to 1990 and began to intensify in 2011. Since then, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) coordinates the Spanish scientific and technological participation in the SKA project, and as such, is in charge of organising the national community for its contribution to the project. The coordination team, together with the Spanish community and members of committees, working groups and the SKA Observatory (SKAO) Council, continues to address the main objective of maximising the return during the development, construction and scientific operation phases of the SKAO by supporting the national scientific and technological community. This also involves supporting the preparation of the scientific community for positioning in the Key Science Projects (KSP), the development of Open Science within the context of the project, and the preservation of leadership in core activities of impact for the community, such as the development of the network of SKA Regional Centres (SRCNet).

Coordination tasks entail, among others:

Selection of key activities and milestones

• Supporting the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU, for its Spanish acronym), science and technology groups, and industry in matters related to the SKA project.
• Interacting with the SKAO office and its working groups and committees.
• Disseminating calls for funding and coordinating proposals.
• Promoting Spanish representation in the SKAO’s scientific and technological committees.
• Support for the preparation of the scientific community for the SKAO data challenges.
• Facilitating access to and use of the SRCNet. 
• Supporting the participation of technology and industry groups in the construction and design phases. 
• Supporting the updating of Spanish industry capabilities map for companies interested in the SKAO, in close collaboration with the Spanish Centre for the Development of Technology and Innovation (CDTI).
• Positioning in design and construction phases (including participation in the negotiation of contracts for the construction phase) and in the SKA Observatory Development Programme (SODP).
• Monitoring and recording all aforementioned activities.

As a result of the joint collaborative work of the Spanish SKA project coordination team and the national scientific community, over 65 researchers from Spanish centres currently participate in the SKAO’s Science Working Groups (SWG). Approximately 120 researchers from 40 centres participated in the Spanish SKA White Book (2015, edited by Miguel Pérez-Torres, IAA-CSIC), and 10% of the chapters of the International SKA Science Book (2014) have a Spanish first author or co-author. In the technological field, 12 Spanish centres and 12 companies participated in 8 out of the 12 international consortia for the design of the SKA Organisation, predecessor of the SKAO. These were: Dish, Central Signal Processor, Signal and Data Transport, Telescope Manager, Science Data Processor, Infrastructure Australia, Infrastructure South Africa and Phased Array Feed.

Reunión Abierta de la RIA – Spain in SKA! – 10 & 11th June 2019, Granada. From left to right: Antxón Alberdi (IAA-CSIC Director), Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (Coordinator of the Spanish participation in the SKA), Phil Diamond (SKA Observatory Director General), Rafael Rodrigo (former Secretary General of Scientific Policy Coordinator), Francisco Cuenca (former Granada city Mayor), Isabel Márquez (IAA-CSIC's Scientific vice Director), Jesús Marco (former CSIC's vice President of Scientific and Technological Research)

Spain formally joined the SKA Organisation in 2018, and in 2021, the MICIU initiated formal procedures for Spain to become a member country of the SKA Observatory, becoming the 9th member in June 2023. This milestone has been made possible thanks to the support of the MICIU to a strategically positioned scientific community, and close collaboration with engineers and industry, who made key contributions to the design of the SKA telescopes. Since 2020, the IAA-CSIC has received direct funding from the Ministry for the coordination of SKA, formalised since 2021 as a line item in the General State Budget: “Coordination of SKA-Spain participation” (budget application 28.06.000X.430.09).

In 2021, the MICIU announced an initial contribution of 41.4 million euros for the construction and operation of the telescopes during the first decade of the project, which will be funded by the Ministry. This implies the allocation, under the SKAO's fair work return policies, of construction contracts in different technological areas for Spanish industry, including signal synchronisation and distribution, construction of the sub-reflectors for the SKA-Mid dish antennas, and different elements for the Band 1 and Band 5 receivers.

In addition, continuous efforts are made to maximise the social impact of the performed activities. The development of the Spanish SKA Regional Centre prototype (espSRC) arises from the coordination activities, as it is a fundamental element for the scientific exploitation of the SKAO. This has been made possible thanks to the combination of these activities with the team's experience in radio astronomy and research in e-Science and Open Science. In addition, the activities to support the Spanish community to participate in the SODP create links between science, technology and industry, supporting the position of Spanish companies in the project.

The results are disseminated among the scientific community through various channels (communications in journals, scientific congresses, social networks,etc.). They are also disseminated in the meetings of the 'Radio Astronomy Infrastructures' group of the Astronomy Infrastructures Network (RIA for its acronym in Spanish) to support the interaction of the agents of the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation System. Likewise, the communication plan for the general public aims to raise awareness of the SKA project and its results to promote the development of vocations in STEM areas. Additionally, new avenues of national and multinational collaboration in dissemination are explored under the principles of diversity, inclusivity, and equality. All activities are carried out in coordination with the SKA Communications and Outreach Network (SKACON), of which the coordination team is a member.

Featured workshops, conferences and meetings:

• 3 general meetings for academic centres and industry (2011, 2012, 2014).
• 2 industry meetings (2016, 2021)
• 3 reuniones de ciencia (2017, 2019, 2023).
• Seminarios impartidos por 8 de los coordinadores de los Grupos de Trabajo de Ciencia de SKA
• SKA related sessions and talks in other conferences + seminars.
• 2 visitas de los líderes de los consorcios de infraestructura de SKA y de la oficina de SKA a instalaciones de energías renovables españolas