WA's world-leading telescope expands

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) has undergone a second round of developments, making the pioneering, Western-Australian based telescope 10 times more powerful in its effort to examine the origins of the universe.

The low-frequency radio telescope has collected masses of astronomical data for research purposes since the beginning of operations in 2013.

It is one of four precursor telescopes for the much larger Square Kilometre Array Project (SKA) and is situated in WA’s mid-west region at CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy observatory.

The addition of 2,048 antennas is considered a major upgrade to its potential and takes the federal government’s investment to date to $14.5 million, as it works towards carrying out a $294 million commitment across 10 years.

Curtin University vice-chancellor Deborah Terry said Curtin was proud to lead the international MWA consortium of 21 research institutions.

“The MWA is one of the cornerstones of Curtin's investment in astronomy research, and plays a central role across astrophysics, engineering, and computing and we look forward to supporting the SKA and other opportunities to advance space science in Western Australia, nationally, and globally,” Professor Terry said.

MWA director and Curtin University professor Melanie Johnston-Hollitt said the phase two expansion greatly increased the research capacity of the $50 million instrument.

She said it enhanced WA’s and Australia’s role in studying the origins of the first stars and galaxies in the universe.

“The telescope is now ten times more powerful and with double the resolution, meaning not only can we explore more of the Universe, but the quality of the images we produce is significantly improved, providing the opportunity for greater scientific discovery,” Professor Johnston-Hollitt said.

Minister for Jobs and Innovation Michaelia Cash said vast radio quiet areas made Australia the ideal location for international projects like the MWA and SKA.

“These projects are also driving the development of new technologies, particularly in the field of big data management,” Ms Cash said.

“This work is helping to expand Australian businesses and create jobs, in Western Australia and across the country.”

She said the phase two upgrade had brought with it an expansion of the international collaboration from 14 to 21 institutions.

The MWA is a collaboration of partner academic institutions from Australia, the United States, Japan, New Zealand, China, and Canada.

Curtin University is the collaboration’s lead organisation and the recipient and manager of Australian MWA funding.

The phase two expansion of the MWA was partly funded by a $1 million grant from the Australian Research Council.

A further $1.9 million was been provided by partner institutions.