Germany withdraws from Square Kilometre Array project

Nature : Because of financial constraints, Germany’s science ministry has decided to pull out of the construction of the world’s largest radio telescope. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which is to be built in South Africa and Australia, is the next big international project, after the Large Hadron Collider and the International Space Station. Projected to cost more than €1.5 billion ($2 billion) by the time it is completed in 2024, SKA will consist of 3000 15-m-wide radio dishes and hundreds of thousands of antennas. While Germany’s share of the estimated €650 million first construction phase would have been in the tens of millions of euros, the project would have benefited members of both its engineering and scientific communities, who were counting on bidding on lucrative building contracts and use of the telescope once completed. Because Germany remains committed through 30 June 2015, the hope has been raised that the ministry might reconsider its decision in the interim.