Environmental Cost of Astronomy Needs to Be Reduced, Will the World's Most Sustainable Observatory Solve It?

Astronomy uses a lot of power in its operation which is why they also emit a lot of carbon. But scientists nowadays are making an effort to reduce carbon emissions while still conducting scientific observations. Their latest project is the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), led by chief power engineer Adriaan Schutte who aims to someday build the world's most sustainable observatory.

Its two sprawling arrays in Australia and South Africa are set to become the largest radio telescope in the world, which will use computers that will digest hundreds of gigabytes of data that will require 12 megawatts of electrical power or equivalent to 10,000 US households.

What is SKAO?

A collaboration of 14 countries created SKAO which represents a huge leap forward in engineering, as well as research and development towards building a huge and unique instrument. According to its website, it will be the largest scientific endeavor in history that will encourage many scientists, engineers, and policymakers in bringing the project to fruition.

It will use thousands of dishes and a million low-frequency antennas to help astronomers monitor space in unprecedented detail and survey the sky in a more efficient and faster way than any system currently in use. With its unique configuration, SKAO will have unrivaled scope in space observations and will exceed the image resolution of even the Hubble Space Telescope.

It can also capture huge areas of the sky, which is not achieved by most survey telescopes with a similar level of sensitivity. Compared to other large telescopes in the optical and infrared levels, SKAO will complement them and lead the way in scientific discovery.

How Will SKAO Help Reduce Carbon Emissions of Astronomy?

Schutte said that some of the plants of large telescopes he used to work in his career used 100 times as much power as SKAO. But thinking that the world is threatened by climate collapse, the future of astronomy relies on cleaning up and reducing carbon emissions, which means that it requires changing into renewable sources of electricity.

Schutte told Space.com that this is now an era where carbon emissions will be capped In a situation where there is so much carbon emitted, it is not high time to choose between manufacturing basic goods and doing science. But SKAO will help in its mission of developing an environment-friendly observatory.

He pointed out that the remote location of the arrays in Australia turned out to be an advantage. The area will be composed of over 130,000 Christmas tree-like dipole antennas arranged in spiral arms and will sprawl across hundreds of miles of land area. Meanwhile, the South African array in the Karoo desert will consist of 200 parabolic dishes also arranged in a spiral-like pattern.

The remoteness of these locations is important at targeting radio emissions. The use of electronic and telecommunication devices is strictly limited so cell phones, TV, and radio are not used in these areas.

But still, SKAO will need a lot of power every minute of the day. Schutte said that their modeling shows that using a hybrid station, combined with photovoltaics, battery, and diesel generators, they can generate 45% to 90% of renewable energy.

As technology advances every year, improved technologies will also become achievable. Schutte said that 10 years from now, not only will computers improve but also the technology in storing energy.

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