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Why in News:
- India is set to gain full member status in the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, an international scientific collaboration.
About the SKA Project:
- The SKA is a collection of thousands of dish antennas functioning as one unit.
- The project aims to create a large effective area for collecting radio waves, originally intended to be one square kilometer.
- The antennas are located in South Africa and Australia, in remote areas to minimize signal interference.
India’s Role in SKA:
- India has been part of the SKA project since the 1990s, contributing to its design, development, and the negotiation of the SKA Observatory Convention.
- India’s main contribution is in developing the Telescope Manager, the software to run the entire facility.
- Plans are underway to set up an SKA regional center in India as part of a global network for data processing and storage.
Benefits for India:
- India has a strong background in radio astronomy, with facilities like the GMRT near Pune. Full member status ensures preferential access to SKA facilities, proportional to India’s contribution.
- The project involves high-end technologies, offering learning opportunities for scientists, academics, and industry.
- Indian scientists plan to use SKA for research in areas like early universe evolution, galaxy formation, neutron star physics, and solar sciences.
