Site shortlist for radio telescope narrows to Australia and South Africa

BBC : Two countries, Argentina and China, have lost their bid to host the billion dollar Square Kilometer Array, the largest proposed radio telescope over the next twenty years, leaving only Australia and South Africa in competition.The Australian site would be at Mileura station, about 100 km west of Meekathara in Western Australia. The South Africa site would be at Karoo in the Northern Cape, about 95km from Carnarvon. The vast size of the project would mean that outlying dishes of the proposed Karoo site would be in Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Mauritius, and Ghana says the Johannesburg Business Day . The Sydney Morning Herald reports that New Zealand might host some outlying dishes if Australia is chosen as the final location. A final decision on the site location will be made in 2010, after extensive testing at both sites with prototype SKA equipment. The actual telescope is scheduled to go into operation in 2014. Previous News Pick: Four sites proposed for Square Kilometer Array telescope News stories: Johannesburg Business Day Sydney Morning Herald Nature.com Canberra Times West Australian Mail & Guardian (South Africa) Press Releases: CSIRO (Australia) SKA South Africa