THE University of Western Australia has announced the purchase of a robotic telescope currently being built in the US to be commissioned in Gingin next year. The $1 million Zadko Telescope Project, which was awarded a five-year $620,000 Australian Research Council grant last week, will involve French space scientists and NASA. According to Zadko project manager David Coward, the grant is the first major government contribution of its kind for astronomy in WA. It is hoped that the acquisition will also be a catalyst for raising the profile of astronomy in the state, with outback WA tipped as the possible site for the world’s biggest radio telescope – the Square Kilometre Array.
