How important is it to Australia that we in fact win the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope project?
CHIEF SCIENTIST: Well I think it’s not only important to Australia, it’s important to the world increasingly. We see that with the Zadko telescope and most other projects that Australia is involved in astronomy. The international collaboration is the way many projects are being done and winning the SKA for Western Australia will mean not only having that telescope here where it can provide a wonderful resource for researchers here and industries that are involved in helping to build it, but it also will make Australia a centrepiece for international research. HUTCHINSON: Can you explain to laypeople the kind of things that such a telescope will be finding? CHIEF SCIENTIST: The Square Kilometre Array? HUTCHINSON: Mm hm. CHIEF SCIENTIST: Well, The Square Kilometre Array is a radio telescope. So what that means is listening to the universe as it emits radio waves. And radio waves tell us different things about the universe than optical telescopes. They tell us things for example about the
