ASKAP radio telescopes, which Australia hopes will form the foundation of the much larger SKA project. Picture: Charles Brewer Source: news.com.au
FORGET about how quickly you can download porn, the real reason the NBN is awesome is because it may make the world's biggest radio telescope network a reality.
Dr Brian Boyle of the CSIRO said the fibre-optic broadband network was one of the reasons Australia was suitable to host the $2.5 billion SKA project.
Our series on Australia's bid to land the $2.5 billion SKA project
Photos - our road trip to WA
You could help use the SKANBN is a 'huge boost' to bid"The NBN doesn't make or break it, but it's a huge boost for Australia's bid," he told news.com.au.
The Square Kilometre Array, or SKA, would see an enormous network of 3000 radio dishes scattered across Australia and New Zealand, feeding data into a central point in WA.
To get that data from one side of the country to the other, you'd need something more than old copper telephone cables.
Dr Boyle said there were existing fibre-optic research networks that might be up to the job, but they would have to be upgraded.
"In order to connect to the 25 remote array stations dotted around Australia, and indeed the one or two in New Zealand, we will absolutely be relying on the NBN," he said.
"If it was just reliant on the existing research network, and upgrades to that network, you'd have to upgrade the fibre."
Dr Boyle said the CSIRO hadn't yet determined how much it would cost to upgrade and expand the existing research network.
A spokesperson for NBN Co said the company was aware of the SKA project but couldn't yet give a timeframe for the network to be rolled-out in key areas.
"We keep track of many of the new technological advances being made by organisations and are well aware of the Square Kilometre Array and CSIRO's great work," they said.
"Currently, we haven't finalised our rollout schedule past first and second release sites but will announce more sites as the rollout continues."
Australia is one of the two countries in the running to host the SKA, along with South Africa. A decision will be made next February.
As well as transferring data over the NBN, the SKA would need to build its own network at the epicentre near Boolardy Station in WA to cope with the enormous amount of incoming information.
"If the SKA was to come to Australia, the core of the telescope ? that's the sort of central 100km ? would have to develop its own network to carry data rates that are hundreds of terabytes per second," Dr Boyle said.
When it's completed, the SKA will be up to 50 times larger than the world's current largest radio telescope. It's hoped it will play the central role in unlocking the mysteries of how our universe came into being ? from the nature of gravity to the evolution of galaxies.
Narelle Clark of the Internet Society of Australia said the NBN made projects like the SKA more feasible in Australia.
"I really hope we get it and I really hope the NBN rolls out for that and many other purposes of discovery," she said.
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